Shadow and Light
by Swiftshadow123
Summary: A 15 year old girl makes a discovery that changes her life. She meets a black hedgehog, who's lost his memory..due to being dead. They embark on a quest, with a blind fox, a stray cat, and a mysterious ghost girl. Rated T for swearing and character death.
1. Chapter 1: The long intro

OK, guys, here's the deal. As you can see, this is my first story. I've finished it, so there'll be more chapters up.

Shadow and Light

Chapter 1: The long intro

_Readers must note that the author had to eat three muffins for inspiration, as her brain was hurting from playing Ghost Trick._

Hikari was just your normal average girl, with dark brown hair she tied up in a ponytail, a denim skirt and a black jumper that had a cat's face on it (seriously, WTH?) and russet brown eyes. She lived with her cousin, Max and her uncle Paul.

Sure, she was a bit random, had a liking for Seth from Dinosaur King (but who wouldn't? That guy's smoking hot!) and she might have a tendency to threaten people with her frying pan while cooking (a guy in her science class learned the hard way to not mess with her when she had blunt instruments that were deadly)

The point is, she was not the type to get involved in other people's business, bring someone back from the dead and team up with a velociraptor tamer, a random familiar hedgehog and a stray cat that likes pancakes.

It all started two moons-I mean, months- ago, at her uncle's house.

-Two months earlier-

It was a sunny afternoon, up on Snowpoint mountain. Inside a house, half way up the mountain, a young boy about 10 years old, with short light brown hair, hazel brown eyes and blue shorts with an orange t-shirt. He was sitting at a desk, playing Pokemon Ranger: Tracks of Light (oh, the irony!) when there was loud barking and yelling from downstairs.

"Max! Get Kuro away from me!"

He sighed and went down the stairs. A man with black hair and grey eyes, wearing a normal suit was trying to shoo a shiba-inu with brown fur away. The man saw the kid standing at the door.

"Call him off!" the stranger called.

The boy nodded.

"Come here, Kuro!" he yelled. The dog bounded over to him, and sat by his side, growling softly.

Soon after, two other people came though the door, carrying a stretcher. Kuro started barking and jumping up and down.

"What is that?" Max asked, inquisitively stepping closer.

Paul (for that was the other person's name) walked in front of him.

"It's none of your business stuff." he replied, curtly.

"Oh? Is it a birthday present?"

Paul turned to the other people waiting for him.

"Carry it into my study, and wait for me outside," he ordered.

The two men nodded, and walked off down a nearby passageway. Then he looked at Max.

"If I catch you in my study, you'll be grounded for a month." he said.

Max flinched, while Kuro whimpered.

"Sheesh. I wasn't interested in it anyway."

Hikari came down the stairs into the room.

"What's with the long faces?" the girl asked.

"Nothing. Now, I'm going away for a few days, so I need you to take care of Max."

Paul stood aside while the other men passed, but failed to see a glowing red gem fall out of one of their pockets. It rolled away under the sofa with a quiet clink. Kuro stood up, and headed over to it, curiously.

"There's pizza in the fridge, but don't touch my coffee, and try not to blow the house up."

Paul continued, waving to them as he walked down the garden path. Hikari closed the door.

"What a positive guy he is!" she said sarcastically.

"I think he's in one of his moods today…" Max trailed off as he heard the unmistakable sound of a shiba-inu trying to swallow something.

"Kuro, no! Drop it!" he shouted, hustling over.

The shiba-inu spat out the red gem and whined. Max picked up the red gem, wiped the drool that was on it, and showed it to Hikari.

"Look at it! It's so shiny!" he said, eyes going round. Hikari facepalmed as he started dancing around, singing, "I'm so rich!"

"You don't even know where it came from." she interrupted.

Max stopped jumping. "Oh…what if this belongs to a violent gang? What if it belongs to a secret ninja clan who don't take prisoners?"

Max dropped the jewel and started hyperventilating.

"Cover me, Kuro!" he cried, hiding under a table.

Kuro growled and ran down the corridor to the study.

"What's wrong with Kuro?" Hikari pondered.

"He's been acting like that all morning."

Max said. There was some more thunderous barking, and a clanging sound from the study.

"I'll just see what's going on." Hikari said, following Kuro.

"Be careful of the ninja clan!" Max yelled. Hikari just picked up the gem, and walked off.

Inside the study was big (so big it was practically a library). The lighting was dull and miserable, There were papers strewn about on a desk by the wall, and the room was silent. Hikari crept around, searching for Kuro.

"Kuro! Here, boy!" she called, peering around a bookshelf. Then she heard some snarling. Hikari turned to see the small canine defensively standing near a table covered by some cloth. She petted Kuro quickly.

"Come on, let's get out of here." she muttered.

Kuro bristled his fur, and growled warily, with his ears flattened down. At that point, Hikari's catlike curiosity got the better of her. She slowly reached for the cloth and pulled it off the table. Much to her shock and amazement, there was a black hedgehog with red stripes lying there.

"Well, this is weird…" she said to Kuro, who barked.

"Hey, furry, are you awake?" she asked, poking the hedgehog. There was no reply, not even a little snore.

"Hmm." as she turned, Max bolted in,

"Hikari! The ninjas are attacking!" he shouted, panicking.

"Look at what I found!" she announced. Max peered at the hedgehog, then freaked out more.

"He's dead! The ninjas got him!" he ran around in circles. Hikari sighed, and turned back to the hedgehog. Despite all the noise, he was not moving at all. Hikari's eyes turned round like saucers.

"Max…I think we should leave…that guy's dead…." as she backed away, she dropped the jewel right on top of the hedgehog. Max grabbed her arm.

"Of course he's dead, Captain Obvious!" he yelled. They raced out.

"I wonder what Paul wants with that dead hedgehog…" Hikari mumbled, pacing up and down in the room.

"I still think the ninjas teamed up with Orochimaru and killed him." Max said, still not calm about the whole jewel incident. Hikari shot him a funny look.

"This isn't about Naruto and…I think I left the jewel with the dead guy…." Max gasped at her.

"Great, now one of us will have to go in there and get it back." he fumed.

"I'll go, since I'm the responsible adult here." Hikari said, courageously. Kuro whined and started barking again.

"Kuro, shush!" Max exclaimed, getting up and grabbing his lead. He turned to Hikari.

"I'm going to go and walk him, ok?"

He ran outside. Hikari sighed and sat on the sofa. She was now officially stuck with a dead guy.


	2. Chapter 2: Shadow's shadow?

Chapter 2: Shadow's shadow?

_In which Hikari and Max meet a random hedgehog in the kitchen._

It was night, and the full moon was out. An owl hooted outside and there was some light footsteps heard in the kitchen. A dark shape, scarily only about 100cm high, tried to climb onto the counter, before falling off with a soft thump.

Max got up, and crept to Hikari's room. He shook the sleeping teen quietly.

"WHAT?" Hikari bellowed angrily, getting up. "I heard a noise downstairs…" Max whispered. Hikari sighed. "It's probably Kuro again." Max shook his head. "He's in my room." he replied. "Fine, let's see what the problem is."

They tiptoed down the stairs, and walked to the kitchen. Hikari grabbed a frying pan, and went towards the dark shape rummaging around in the cupboard. It whipped around and Hikari jumped back as she saw the gleam of two ruby red eyes glaring at her.

"Demon!" she shouted, waving the frying pan around. The figure calmly ducked the mad blows, snatched the pan out of Hikari's hands and tossed it away. Hikari ran back to Max, followed by the 'demon'.

"Max! Get out of here!" Hikari called as she ran past him. As she ran past the table, the shape jumped in front of her, and Hikari screamed as she picked up a random copy of Breaking Dawn, and threw it like a Frisbee. It collided with a thunk, and the figure fell over.

"Max! Turn on the lights!" she called. Max ran to the light switch and flicked it on. Hikari just stared at the mysterious shape, who was the hedgehog from earlier.

Then she snapped.

"Zombie!" she screamed, grabbing the frying pan from the floor, and hitting him over the head again. The hedgehog groaned.

"Don't you think that I've had enough, already?" he asked in a deep voice. Hikari just started hitting him harder, until she got tired. Max came over.

"I think you went a bit too far, Hikari." he said, staring down at the hedgehog who was knocked out, with a giant lump on his head.

A few minutes later, in the study, the hedgehog was tied up in a chair. Hikari was still posing with her frying pan of destruction, while Max facepalmed. The hedgehog slowly woke up.

"Keep that girl away from me." he said, staring at Hikari. "So, what's your name?" Max asked. The hedgehog replied, "It's Shadow, if you have to know." Max looked confused.

"What kind of name is Shadow?" he asked. Shadow just huffed and looked away. Hikari turned to Max. "I'll go and call Paul in the morning. In the meanwhile, we're going to leave him here, ok?" Max nodded.

"But…we'll get grounded…" he mumbled.

"That's the least of our worries, Max!" Hikari shouted. She then turned to Shadow, and started to bombard him with questions.

"Who are you? What are you doing here? Why were you dead?"

Shadow shot her a death glare. "I'd rather not answer." he mumbled. Max yawned. "Well, I'm going to bed." he walked out, leaving Hikari and a rather annoyed Shadow.

"Huh. This is just a waste of time." Shadow said, still glaring at Hikari.

"Don't look at me like that!"

Shadow just stared at her with piercing eyes. Hikari turned around.

"You're really starting to freak me out, you know." she said, trying to ignore the glare.

"Then maybe you should get these ropes off me, and I would really appreciate some food." the dark hedgehog said, pulling at the ropes. Hikari walked to the door.

"Sorry, don't think so." she replied. As she walked down the corridor, Shadow yelled after her.

"I could snap these puny ropes in seconds, you know!"

"Whatever!" Hikari yelled back.

Hikari went back to her room to get some sleep. She soon had a funny dream.

She was walking in a thick forest, where there were many rustling bushes (Warrior Cat fans-this is NOT the Dark Forest of NightClan!). She continued down the forest path, until she saw someone in the shade of the trees. Hikari walked over to the person, who was a young girl, slightly older than her, standing with her back to Hikari.

"Er…Hi there?" Hikari greeted the stranger.

The girl turned around. She was wearing a blue dress, (hint, hint-cough!) she had blond hair, and blue eyes.

"Are you Hikari?" she asked, looking slightly puzzled. Hikari nodded.

"And who are you?" she questioned the girl. The girl shrugged.

"You don't need to know me. What you DO need to do is…help Shadow!"

Hikari just stared at the girl. "I don't even know that guy. How do you know about him?"

The girl ignored her question. "I didn't want to do this, but using the power of that red Chaos emerald you found, I will show you this!" she said.

There was a bright flash. Hikari gasped. She was standing on the mountainside, looking down a slope. Then she heard some shouts.

"There he is! Get him!"

"_What the hell? I'm not a boy!" _Hikari turned around to give whoever shouted, an earful, when she unexpectedly started to run down the slope.

"_What the…" _she thought, as she was running. She couldn't control her body at all.

"Stop!"

Hikari heard some gunshots. Her head turned to look at who was shooting, and she saw something that made her blood run cold.

Paul was chasing after her with some soldiers, and he was aiming a pistol at her.

BANG!

Hikari could only swear silently in her mind, as her body twisted, and did a neat back flip out of the way of the approaching bullet. Now, she knew that she definitely could not pull off a trick like that, no matter how hard she tried.

She landed lightly, and continued to run.

Or she would have, if she hadn't run onto thin ice.

Hikari panicked as the ice broke underneath her, and she fell into a shockingly cold lake.

Even though she was a good swimmer, she could not paddle as she sank like a stone.

"_What the BEEP is this?" _she thought, as her arms waved around. As she was flailing, Hikari realised something. Her arms were covered in black fur, with a distinctive red stripe on both of them.

"_Does that mean…"_

Her vision blurred, then went dark.

Hikari blinked. She was back in the forest, in front of the girl.

"Ok, now what did you just do?" she shouted.

"I just showed you Shadow's final moments before he died, three years ago." the girl replied, looking grave.

"So, you want me to do what?" Hikari wondered.

"I want you to help Shadow. Even though you hardly know him."

Hikari nodded. Well, there was no point in arguing with a girl that could take you back though time. Oh, and show you the last four minutes of a person's life.

The girl sighed. "Well, I guess I should be off now."

She turned to leave.

"Wait! I don't even know who you are!" Hikari called after her.

"Don't worry, Hikari. We'll meet again…maybe." the girl faded from sight.


	3. Chapter 3: Never trespass on Kuro's turf

Chapter 3: Never trespass on Kuro's territory

_In which nothing much happens, and Kuro attempts to have some juicy hedgehog for his breakfast._

Kuro was asleep on top of Max's bed, in his bedroom. It was now early morning, and the sun was just rising outside. The shiba-inu stretched and yawned, then caught an unfamiliar scent. He growled, and raced out of the room.

Shadow was asleep on the sofa, curled up halfway into a ball. He felt something panting in his face, and opened one eye. A growling Kuro, who was sitting on top of him, practically in his face, greeted him. Shadow slowly reached for the red Chaos emerald next to him, and then grabbed it as Kuro snarled and lunged forward.

"Chaos Control!" Shadow quickly shouted. He vanished, and the dog's teeth clamped down on empty air. Shadow appeared on top of the stairs, and ran for Hikari's door.

Hikari was still snoring away, when Shadow dashed into her room and slammed the door shut. Hikari, woken up by the sudden noise, yawned and blinked at Shadow.

Then her eyes shot open.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING HERE? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE IN THE STUDY!" she yelled, reaching for a heavy dictionary on her bookshelf.

"Then maybe you should control that rabid canine better." Shadow muttered. There was some thunderous barking heard on the other side of the door, and some muffled curses.

"Kuro! Get back to sleep! It's six in the morning!" Max shouted outside. There was a small thud, and the door shook. Max opened the door, and Kuro raced inside, still barking.

"Oh, morning Hikari." he greeted the girl, as Shadow dodged Kuro's snaps and jumps.

"Max! Call Kuro off!" Hikari yelled. Max turned to see a hedgehog trying to fend off a cross dog with a coat hanger. He facepalmed.

"Kuro, get over here now." he ordered. Kuro ignored him, and leapt at Shadow, who held up his Chaos emerald.

"Chaos Control!"

He disappeared, leaving a puzzled Hikari and Max.

"Okay…what did he just do?" Hikari asked Max.

"I think he teleported or something…"

Kuro ran off, downstairs, still barking his head off. Hikari and Max looked at each other, and then took off after him.

Kuro was just cornering Shadow, with his fangs bared. Shadow stared defiantly at him, then got into a fighting position, as Hikari and Max came running up. Max quickly picked up Kuro, and placed him outside in the back garden.

"Sorry about that…he's a bit over protective…." Max said brightly. Shadow stared at him.

"A bit? That damn dog nearly took my leg off!" he shouted. Hikari sweatdropped. "Er… I'll go and make breakfast." she walked off into the kitchen.

A few minutes later, the teenagers were sitting at the table, wit a stack of pancakes and syrup in the middle.

"You know, I had a weird dream, you know." Hikari said, digging into a pancake.

"Oh really? What was it about?" Max asked. Shadow just stared into the distance, as Hikari explained her dream.

A moment later, Shadow looked shocked, and Max had dropped a pancake in surprise. "That's kind of like the dream I had, you know…" Max replied, grabbing another pancake.

"Yes, it went something like this…"

Max's flashback (Oh. My. StarClan. It's the first flashback!)

Max was walking in the same forest Hikari was before. He saw a girl standing in front of him, apparently talking to a wild bird.

"Oh no. He did? Wow." the girl continued. The small bird chirped, and the girl turned around.

"Oh, hi…hang on, are you Hikari's cousin?" she asked. Max nodded, and the girl turned back to the bird.

"Are you sure you got that dream technique right?" she asked. The bird bobbed its head.

"OK, then. I'll try again."

*End of flashback*

Hikari looked surprised. "That's weird…" she muttered. She then turned to Shadow, who was still staring into space.

"Aren't you going to say anything about your past?"

Shadow quickly came out of his daydream.

"I would like to ask Paul why he was chasing me." Shadow replied. Hikari looked at him.

"Don't you think that'll be playing right into his hands? I mean, he was shooting at you."

Shadow didn't say anything, but drifted off into another daydream.

Meanwhile, in an other mountainside village, Paul was talking with a mysterious voice, on the phone.

"Yeah, Hikari's fine. But I want to know, when should I bring him over to the city? Right away? OK then, I'll see you at HQ."

Paul came off the phone, and walked away.

Back with the teens, Kuro was outside in the garden, scratching the door and whimpering. He did this for ten minutes, until he gave up and sat down. Then, out of the blue, a small idea came to Kuro's head. He got up, and ran away down the path.


	4. Chapter 4: Paul's a secret agent guy!

_Thanks to Lucy Labrador for the review! (it's quite sad, no one's reviewed yet…I'm probably being impatient.) Has anyone spotted any Ghost Trick references yet?_

Chapter 4: Paul is a secret agent man!

_Where the author decides to stop doing these notes, and nag you to review instead._

Kuro was racing down the mountain track, urgently. He stopped to take a brief break, and then continued down the path.

Meanwhile, Hikari was watching TV on the sofa, while Shadow was caught up in another daydream. Max came in, looking cheerful, as he picked up Kuro's lead, and walked out.

"Walkies, Kuro!...hey, Kuro? KURO!" Max yelled outside.

Hikari turned her head as Max came rushing back in.

"Hikari! Kuro's not outside! He must have run away!"

Shadow said simply, not bothering to turn his head, "I'm not surprised."

"I'm going to go and look for him!" Max called, practically flying out of the door.

"So…do you like waffles?" Hikari asked. Shadow glared at her, and she cringed.

"For the record, I loathe waffles, but I like pancakes and French toast." Shadow said darkly. Hikari nodded.

"Did you have the same dream as me?" she asked. The hedgehog gazed into the distance.

"Yeah, I did…"

Shadow's flashback (Another flashback?)

Shadow ran though the forest, looking around.

"_I wonder where this place is…" _he thought to himself. As he ran on, he passed the girl, who jumped and shouted,

"Hi Shadow!"

Shadow slowed down, and looked at the girl, puzzled.

"Who are you? How do you know my name?"

The girl sweatdropped at his wide-eyed expression.

"Erm, I'm just a ghost. No big deal."

Shadow's eyes went round.

"Ghost? Did I do something wrong?" he pondered. The girl quickly shook her head.

"No…I just wanted to see you for a few minutes, and show you something important."

There was a bright blue flash.

-One Ghost Trick later…-

Shadow was sitting on a rock, staring into space.

"That man…Those soldiers….then…" he mumbled quietly to himself.

"OK, I want to help you find your hidden past, but in order to do that, you need to go on a journey with Hikari, and collect the Chaos emeralds." the girl said.

"Who's Hikari?"

"Sigh…"

-One Ghost Trick AND explanation later…-

"Oh. That crazy kid is Hikari." Shadow nodded in understanding. Then he jumped up.

"I must regain my past! Why did I die? Who was leading those soldiers?" he asked, to no one in particular.

"Well, I'll be going now, but we'll meet up soon." the girl walked off. Shadow shouted after her,

"Hey! What's your name anyway? I feel as though I know you from somewhere!"

"Sorry, but I can't say. You'll find out soon."

*End of flashback*

(BTW, I am pretty sure everyone knows who the girl is. Just saying)

Hikari thought for a minute.

"So, that girl's a ghost? That's weird." she said slowly.

"That is why I must ask Paul why he was chasing me." Shadow explained.

"OK then…"

Max was just running down the road, when Kuro rushed past him, barking. He looked up to see Paul, and a group of soldiers in the distance.

"_Oh crap…"_

He quickly hid behind a rock, and took out his mobile phone.

"Hi, Max. Did you find Kuro?" Hikari's voice greeted him on the phone.

"Yes, but he's leading Paul and some random soldiers to the house! You'd better tell Shadow that he has to leave."

"Right…"

As Max turned off his phone, he looked up and saw Paul and his group run past. He jumped up.

"Hi, dad!" he said, secretly hoping to stall Paul. Paul turned.

"Max? What are you doing here?"

"Kuro just ran away, so I was looking for him."

"Where's Hikari?"

"At home. She didn't want to help me search for Kuro."

Paul thought for a moment.

"_Something must have happened, that Max doesn't want to tell me about. Otherwise, Kuro would of stayed at home…"_ he pondered. He looked at Max again, who was trying to act innocent.

"Has something happened?"

"What-no! Nothing's happened!" Max tried to keep his face straight, but Paul easily saw he was lying. He grabbed Max's phone, and rang Hikari.

"Hi Max!" Hikari said.

"Hikari, what's going on at home?" Paul asked.

"Oh, nothing. Just doing some cooking!" there was some muttering in the background, then the sound of a book hitting an ebony head.

"What was that?"

"Just a book falling off the shelf." Hikari said quickly. Paul turned off the phone, and glared at Max.

"Something's going on, and I'm going to find out!" he muttered, walking off. Max went after him.

Back at the house, Hikari was trying to find a hiding place for Shadow. She was rushing around the house, pulling chairs out, and searching in the study, while Shadow didn't seem to be bothered.

"Shadow! Shift yourself from that chair, and hide!" Hikari shouted to the hedgehog.

"No, Hikari. I will not hide like a scared rat. I will face Paul directly." Shadow stayed put in the chair. Hikari gritted her teeth, then whipped around as the door opened. Paul was standing in the doorway, with the soldiers. As he came into the room, he saw Shadow staring at him, and shouted,

"You're supposed to be DEAD! How could you come back, after three years, buried under ice?"

Shadow shrugged.

"I really don't know." he said. Paul saw the Chaos emerald in his hand.

"That Chaos emerald must have brought you back…you're under arrest, Shadow!"

Shadow looked puzzled. "What did I do?

"You're too dangerous, and you have countless crimes to answer for."

The soldiers came running in, and surrounded Shadow, who smirked, and readied a Chaos spear.

"Ok, then, I'll take you guys on."

"WAIT!"

Everyone in the room turned to look at Hikari, who had shouted.

"I'm pretty sure he's innocent. Max and I have been with Shadow for a while now, and he hasn't tried anything funny." Hikari said to Paul.

"He's still dangerous."

Shadow glared at Paul.

"Ok, I have NO idea what you're on about. I mean, you tried to kill me, for fu-"

Paul pointed a gun at him, and shot him in mid sentence. Shadow fainted, and fell down on the ground, as Hikari gasped.

"You've killed him!" she shouted. Paul shook his head.

"No, I haven't. Right now, he's too valuable to kill. I just used a stun gun on him."

Hikari looked over at Shadow, who was twitching an ear. Paul turned to the soldiers.

"OK, pick him up, and take him down to the van."

One of the soldiers picked up Shadow, and carried him off outside. Paul looked at Hikari and Max, and sighed.

"It looks like I've got some explaining to do."

A few moments later, Hikari was glowering at Paul, who was sitting on the sofa. She ran up the stairs, without a word.

"So…you're a GUN agent. Why didn't you tell us?" Max asked. Paul looked down at the floor.

"I'm sorry, I just didn't want you two getting into trouble." he replied. Max nodded, and walked up stairs.

He opened Hikari's door, to find her packing a cricket bat into a rucksack on the floor.

"Hikari, what are you doing?" he asked.

Hikari looked up, with a deadly flame of passion burning brightly in her brown eyes.

"I'm going to rescue Shadow. Don't try and stop me."


	5. Chapter 5: Team Light, away!

_Thanks to__Epsilon Team Captain Hande for the review! Can we have an awesome guitar solo for him and Lucy Labrador please, Shadow?_

Shadow: I am not paid enough for this…*plays epic guitar solo on his guitar*

_Thanks! I don't own Shadow, he belongs to SEGA. However, I DO own Hikari, Paul, Max and Kuro. *evil smile* and I don't own ATOM…whatever that show's about._

Hikari: O_O'

Chapter 5: Team Light, away!

Max stared at Hikari, who had finished packing her stuff.

"But…Paul said not to get involved with him…"

Hikari shook her head.

"I know, but I made a promise to that ghost in my dream, and I intend to keep it." she replied, putting on her jacket. Max nodded.

"Ok. But before you charge in there, shouting and screaming, we need a plan." he said. Hikari thought for a minute.

"Well….do you have any ideas?" she asked. Max grinned.

"But of course! While you've being sitting in here, packing away, I've made a plan of my own."

Max explained his plan, and Hikari jumped for joy.

"Yes, that'll do!" she cried. Max thought for a moment, then replied,

"How about a team name?" he asked. Hikari frowned.

"I'm not sure. How about Team Light?"

Max pouted.

"BOOORING! Everyone knows your name means light in Japanese, so no. How about Team Awesomely Powerful Owning Teens?"

"Team APOT?"

Max sweatdropped, and tried again.

"Team Alpha Teens On Machines?"

"Dear god, no…Where did you get that name from anyway?"

Max rubbed his head, and glanced at a poster, which had ATOM spelled out on it, with five teenagers dressed in colourful but slightly weird outfits, standing next to a futuristic racing car.

"Nowhere…"

After much arguing, the kids decided to name themselves Team Light, and brought their plan into action.

Elsewhere, Shadow was just waking up. He looked around at his surroundings, which consisted of a glass box. He punched at the glass, but it only hurt his hand. Shadow sighed, and sat down.

"I am really going to get that Paul back for this." he fumed to himself.

At the house, Max ran down the stairs. Paul was snoozing on the sofa, as the boy searched the table for something. He found what he was looking for, a set of keys. He tiptoed back up the stairs, and gave the keys to Hikari.

"You do know what to do, right?" Max asked. Hikari answered,

"Yes, of course I know what to do! You have to cover for me, ok?"

Max watched as Hikari took out her cricket bat, and climbed out of the bedroom window.

The young teenager ran to the outskirts of the village, making sure that she wasn't seen. As she came to the boundary, she saw some GUN vans parked nearby.

"_OK, I have to break Shadow out of there. Who knows what they're doing to him…"_

She approached the vans quietly, and ducked down as she saw a patrol coming. Hikari kept still as they walked past, then she got up and peered though some of the van windows. After a few minutes of dodging patrols, and nearly being caught, she came across a large van. She peeked though the window, and saw Shadow in a glass tank. She carefully crept onto the van, and tapped the glass. Shadow's ears pricked up.

"I was wondering when you'd come." he said, not turning around. Hikari took the keys out, and unlocked the cage. Shadow walked out, looking slightly annoyed.

"I am so going to get Paul for doing this…" he muttered.

"Yeah, yeah, let's get out of here, before the guards come back." they ran out, leaving the keys in the lock.

Moments later, back at the house-

"Thanks for getting me out of there, Hikari. But I don't remember asking to be rescued." Shadow said. Hikari rolled her eyes.

"Gee, you're just over flowing with gratitude, aren't you?"

Shadow didn't say anything, but just stared into space, as was his custom. Hikari turned to Max.

"Has Paul said anything to you?" she asked. Max shook his head.

"Nah…he's asleep on the sofa." Hikari looked at Shadow.

"You'd better get out of here." she warned him.

"Humph. I guess I should. I'll leave in the morning, listen out for an owl's hoot."

Shadow leapt though the window gracefully. There was a loud thump outside, and the sound of cursing and footsteps running off. Hikari sighed.

"Well, I'm going to bed. Or…" her eyes brightened.

"I've got it!" she shouted, punching the air. Max tilted his head, confused.

"Got what?"

Hikari grabbed her bag, and started repacking it.

"I'm going to Station Square! To find Akemi!"

Max's eyes widened.

"But…you know what your brother's like…"

Hikari continued to pack her bag.

"I don't care! He's got contacts who can help Shadow, and I was planning to go anyway!" she shouted. Max sighed.

"OK, then. I'll help you get ready."

In the morning, Hikari was woken up by a loud, deep noise that sounded like a wolf coughing.

"A HOOT-HOOOT! HOOOOT! TWO-WIT HOOT!"

Outside, Shadow was trying to hoot like a owl. He stopped hooting, and sweatdropped as Hikari's window flew open.

"SHADOW! THAT SOUNDED NOTHING LIKE AN OWL!" Hikari yelled at the hedgehog.

"Well, excuse me for being out of practise!"

Shadow jumped through the window (successfully) and stood in front of Hikari.

"Well, I'm going to go now. Thanks for every thing." the hedgehog turned to leave, but was stopped by Hikari.

"Hang on a minute!" she shouted. Shadow stared as she flung her coat on, and put her rucksack on her back.

"I don't even know where I'm going…"

Max came into the room, while an annoyed Kuro waited outside in the corridor, staring at Shadow.

"Oh, you're leaving now?" he asked. Hikari nodded.

"I'll call you when I get to Station Square." she said.

"Somehow, I don't remember agreeing to this…" Shadow muttered under his breath.

"Well, you can't remember a lot of things."

"Fair point…"

Hikari and Shadow climbed out of the window, as Max waved goodbye.

"I'll try and cover for you, but Paul might come after you!" he called.

Hikari waved to him, and then she and Shadow set off down the path.


	6. Chapter 6: The epic journey starts!

_Thank you to Epsilon Team Captain Hande for reviewing! You get a cool Shadow plushie that says 'This is the ULTIMATE!' I would really like other reviews as well, so if you're a visitor just randomly looking at this story, you can review! Well, let's continue! ^_^_

_With regards to the theme song, type in Naruto Remember English lyrics, and you'll see it. You don't have to do this, but the song's really good._

_Disclaimer: If I owned Shadow and the ghost girl, I would be sunning out on a private beach somewhere. Sadly, I don't, so I have to stick with walking to school in British weather. I definitely don't own Remember by FLOW. _

Chapter 5: The epic journey finally starts!

*Theme song, Remember by FLOW plays*

It was in the early afternoon. Hikari and Shadow were still walking down the mountain path. Hikari looked over at Shadow.

"Well, what are you planning to do when we get to Station Square?" she asked.

"I'm going to find the Chaos emeralds, find my past, and after that…I'm not sure." Shadow replied, pondering to himself. Hikari nodded.

"I have to find my brother, Akemi. Hopefully, he'll let me move in with him, because I'm not living with Paul anymore." she explained.

"I looked at the map, and Station Square is quite far. We'll have to get off this mountain, walk through the Mystic Forest, and then we'll arrive at Station Square in a week."

Hikari looked thoughtful.

"_Maybe I should turn back…There's no technology, no shops and...no toilets out here!"_ she blanched at the thought of telling Shadow that she had to go.

"I hope you brought supplies. Though, I don't need to eat." the hedgehog continued, oblivious to Hikari's expression.

"You don't need to eat? But everyone gets hungry…" Hikari muttered.

"As long as I have this Chaos emerald, I can survive on its energy for a month, or maybe more."

Hikari glared at the hedgehog.

"_It's not fair! How come he doesn't have to go to the toilet?" _she thought angrily.

Meanwhile, at the house, Max was having a hard time keeping Hikari's absence a secret. He was in his room, playing loud music, when Paul called his name. He hurried down the stairs, and found Paul on the sofa.

"Max, where's Hikari? I haven't seen her for quite a few hours, now…"

Max gulped. He knew Paul would eventually find out Hikari was missing, but he lied anyway.

"Oh, she's having a lie in today. Said she had a headache."

Paul frowned to himself. Suddenly, there was a loud knocking at the door. Paul got up and opened it, and a GUN soldier came running into the room. He saluted Paul.

"Sir! There's some bad news!" he shouted.

"What is it?" Paul asked.

"The hedgehog escaped, sir! Someone unlocked his cage, and he's gone!"

"WHAT!"

"There's more, sir. Your keys were found in the door."

Paul turned to stare at Max, who shrugged.

"It wasn't me." he said, truthfully. Paul ran up to Hikari's room, and found the window open. He came back, grabbed Max's phone, and dialled Hikari.

On the mountainside, Hikari heard her phone ringing. She stopped to take it out, and answered it, with Shadow looking on curiously.

"Oh, hi, Max!" she greeted the person on the other end of the phone.

"Hikari! Come back this instant! I know you're with that hedgehog!" Paul shouted.

"Who, Shadow? He's not here."

"Don't play dumb, young lady! If you DO NOT come back now, I'll, I'll…."

"Yes? You'll what?"

"Give the phone to Shadow!" Paul ordered. Hikari sighed, and gave the phone to him.

"Yes?" Shadow asked.

"IF YOU DO NOT BRING BACK MY NIECE, I'LL TRACK YOU DOWN, KILL YOU, AND THEN BRING YOU BACK WHEN I GET TO THE CITY!" Paul roared at Shadow.

"Whatever."

"I mean it! And I'll put you back on Prison Island, back in your cold storage chamber!"

"What's Prison Island?"

There was a loud yell heard from Paul.

"FINE! WE'LL SEE WHO'S LAUGHING, WHEN I FIND YOU!" The phone went dead, and Shadow gave the phone back to Hikari.

"Maybe I should go back…" Hikari muttered. Shadow shook his head.

"I'm not afraid of Paul. Besides, I have a feeling that if you did go back, he'd come after me anyway."

"Hmmm…"

At the house, Paul dropped the mobile phone.

"Get me the snow patrol now." he ordered the soldier. The soldier nodded, and walked out. Paul turned to Max.

"YOU SIR, ARE GROUNDED UNTIL THE END OF TIME!" he yelled. Max sweatdropped.

"Awww, man…"

A few hours later, back on the mountainside, it was night. Hikari was trying to set up her tent, while Shadow sat on a rock, and watched her struggle.

"Didn't the instructions say to PUT the pegs in the ground?" he asked.

"Shadow! Come here and help me! Or you won't get any dinner!"

Shadow yawned at Hikari, crossed his arms, and went to sleep. Hikari threw one of the tent poles on the ground.

"I really, really, am starting to see why Paul hates you so much."

When Hikari had finally managed to put up the tent, she made a campfire, boiled some pasta (she had her famous frying pan) and had some for dinner. She looked over at Shadow, who was staring blankly into the sky again. She felt guilty, so came across with some pasta.

"Don't you want any?" she asked. Shadow shook his head.

"I told you before, I don't need to eat."

Right on cue, there was a loud growling from his stomach.

"OK, maybe I'll have some…." Shadow looked slightly embarrassed. Hikari gave him the plate, and then went into the tent. She soon fell asleep.

Hikari found herself back in the forest, with the ghost girl leaning on a tree.

"Hi, Hikari." she greeted the teen.

"Oh, hey…so, what is it this time?"

The girl got up.

"You're in for a really rough time." she explained.

"I see. So you can see into the future?"

"Yes…but I can't tell you it."

Hikari huffed, and sat down. The girl came over.

"What's wrong?" she asked. Hikari shook her head.

"Nothing, except you won't tell me anything about yourself, and you just randomly appear in my dreams for no reason."

The girl thought for a minute.

"OK, I can tell you my name, but I can't tell you anything else."

"Great. What is your name?" Hikari asked.

"….Maria."

_Ooooh….Sonic fans, you should know what this means. The tension!_


	7. Chapter 7: Lucas

_Merci to Epsilon Team Captain Hande for reviewing! Also, there's something I want to say…since this is rated 'T' there's going to be swearing, blood and character death coming up. I'll try and censor the bad words, but I really can't keep on interrupting Shadow when he's about to swear._

Shadow: Will you please hurry up? I've been waiting for thirty fu-

_Disclaimer: If I owned Shadow and Maria, she wouldn't be dead, and there would be more awesome Sonic games. Heaven knows I've tried to buy the rights off SEGA…_

Chapter 6: Lucas

*Theme song plays*

Hikari yawned and stretched as she got up. She walked out of the tent, and a pile of snow fell on her head.

"Blech! Great, now my hair's wet!"

She shook the snow out of her hair, and trod on a big pile of snow. It yelped, jumped up and shot Hikari a death glare. Hikari had to laugh, because standing in front of her was a cranky looking Shadow, nursing his tail, and absolutely covered head to toe in snow. He looked like a walking snowdrift.

"Watch where you step next time!" Shadow grumbled, still rubbing his tail.

"I'm sorry. Did you really sleep out here all night?" Hikari asked.

"Yes, I did. I'm quite fine, thank you very much!" Shadow shook the snow off himself, and his fur puffed out like an afro (wet fur tends to do that). Hikari sniggered, and the hedgehog gave her another singeing death glare, which is hard when you look like a giant furball.

"We'd better get moving. We overslept, it's early afternoon, and my senses are telling me that there's a snowstorm headed our way." Shadow said. Hikari nodded, and started to pack away the tent.

After a few minutes of much complaining and stuffing tent poles into the rucksack, the pair were finally on their way down the hill. Hikari thought back to her dream.

Hikari's flashback (Holy sardines, another flashback?)

"So yes, my name is Maria, I used to know Shadow, and I'm helping you guys out because Shadow's lost his memory." Maria said.

"OK… how did you die?" Hikari asked.

"I can't tell you that…you'll have to find out yourself."

Hikari nodded.

"So, you can't tell Shadow who I am as yet." Maria finished.

"Why?"

"It's hard for me to explain…But you must go to the forest, and the blind fox will help you find the second Chaos emerald."

"But why are you being so cryptic?"

"Let's just say, there's a law in this spirit world that can't be broken."

As Maria turned to leave, Hikari called,

"Wait! Where are we supposed to find this blind fox?"

"You'll see."

*End of flashback*

Hikari felt herself being poked. She turned to look at Shadow, who was poking her arm.

"What?" she asked.

"I've been hearing distant, but loud noises behind us. I think we should speed up." Shadow twitched his ears, then his eyes widened.

"Oh, shi-"

Five snowbikes, driven by soldiers, came racing towards them. Hikari and Shadow stopped as the snowbikes slid in front of them. A GUN soldier came off one of the bikes.

"Hikari, Paul wants you to go back, and hedgehog, you're arrested." The soldier stated calmly. Shadow got into his fighting position.

"It's Shadow! My name is Shadow! Not 'rodent' or 'hedgehog' and certainly not 'it'!" he shouted.

Hikari got out her frying pan, and tried to look threatening.

"Yeah! And I'm not going back to Paul!" she cried, waving her pan. The soldiers looked at each other.

"GET THEM!" they shouted, charging forward with their guns. A fight quickly broke out. Shadow karate chopped a soldier who was raising his gun at him, Hikari flailed around, and delivered a brutal blow to one of the soldier's head. He fell over in the snow, owned by the great frying pan. Hikari stared at her pan.

"Wow…these things do come in handy…" she said.

She looked over at Shadow, who was being dog piled by three soldiers, and rushed over to help. Shadow jumped back, glowing red.

"CHAOS BLAST!" he shouted. There was a loud explosion, and the soldiers went flying back, knocked out.

"Right. Let's make tracks before more soldiers come." Shadow said.

Hikari nodded, then jumped as there was a loud rumbling noise. She turned around to see a huge wall of snow heading for them.

"AVALANCHE!" she shouted, pointing. Shadow quickly yanked her over to a snowbike, and they got on it.

"Are you sure you know how to drive this thing?" Hikari asked, looking worried. Shadow started the bike, and drove down the slope.

"Can't drive, my ass!" Shadow yelled, turning around.

"Keep your eyes on the road!" Hikari pointed to a tree looming in front of them. Shadow sweatdropped.

"Ah, fu-"

They crashed into the tree, and were knocked out.

Hikari woke up slowly. She was on a bed, in what seemed to be a hut. She got up to her feet, and looked around.

"_I wonder where we are…?" _she thought to herself. A teenage boy, older than Hikari and wearing a black jumper with denim trousers walked in. Hikari's eyes widened.

"Lucas!" she exclaimed in surprise. Lucas came over.

"Hey, Hikari. How are you? I haven't seen you for a while…" Lucas said.

"I'm ok…slightly battered, but ok."

"Good. I found you and that other guy up on the slope near my hut. You've been out for quite a few hours now." Lucas explained. Hikari looked around, and saw Shadow still knocked out, in another bed. She rushed over.

"Hey! Shadow! Wake up!"

She shook the hedgehog, but only got a loud snore. Lucas came over.

"Yeah…You'll have to wait for him to wake up, I'm afraid."

Hikari huffed, and then turned to Lucas.

"We can't wait! We need to get off this mountain! Paul is after us!"

Lucas nodded.

"I know. He called me, and told me to make sure you guys stay put."

Hikari panicked, and went to the door to see if there were any more soldiers outside. Lucas deliberately stood in her way.

"Move out of the way!"

"No. Paul told me all about what happened at his place, and I'm not letting you or that hedgehog escape."

Hikari glared at him, then walked off to think to herself. As she turned around, there was a shout and the sound of coughing. She whipped around, to find Shadow holding Lucas in a headlock, even though Lucas was much more taller than him.

"You freaking drugged me!" Shadow shouted, gripping the poor teen tightly.

"How did you get up so fast?" Lucas wondered, trying to struggle out of the headlock. Hikari snapped in rage.

"YOU drugged Shadow?" she yelled.

"Yes, he did!" Shadow growled.

Shadow's flashback (Holy freaking raining Pikachu, it's another flashback AGAIN!)

Shadow blinked his eyes open, and realised that he was in a strange hut. He jumped up, and looked around to see Lucas on the phone.

"Yeah, I'll keep them here. See you soon." Lucas came off the phone, and realised Shadow was staring at him, looking puzzled.

"Oh, you're up."

Lucas walked over to Shadow.

"You and Hikari got into an accident with a snowbike, so I'm just going to check you for any injures, ok?"

Shadow nodded slowly, and allowed Lucas to come nearer. Out of the blue, Lucas suddenly whipped out a needle, and jabbed it into Shadow's arm. He stood up.

"Sorry, pal, I'm just doing my job." Lucas said. Shadow growled, and then passed out.

*End of flashback*

Hikari glared at Lucas, who was still trapped in the headlock. Then she went to her bag, found her frying pan, and went over to Lucas with it.

Lucas looked up, and saw some small writing that said, 'Made in Taiwan' written on the metal pan that was flying to his face. The pan thwacked him hard, and he was knocked out.

Shadow dropped Lucas, Hikari grabbed her coat and bag, and they raced out.

_First one to tell me who the Snow Patrol are (yes, I made a reference in the last chapter) will get to choose between a Kuro plushie, or a gigantic box of cookies. _


	8. Chapter 8: Crossing the lake

_Cheers to Epsilon Team Captain Hande for reviewing! Since you're the only reviewer lately, you get a free frying pan, good for hitting annoying people around the head. And…FANCOMIC ALERT! There's a comic for a scene in this chapter, that was drawn by Lucy Labrador. It has M-_

Maria *poofs in*: Hi, Swift!

_YAAAAH! GHOST! *Drops on floor, and twitches*_

Shadow: I think you scared her.

Maria: Erm, sorry?

_Disclaimer: Gasp, gasp…I do not own Shadow or Maria, they belong to SEGA. I do own all the OCs in this story. Now check out the comic! The link's on my profile._

Chapter 7: Crossing the lake

*Theme song plays* (does anyone even listen to it?)

"We really have to get out of here! Paul might come any moment!" Hikari called to Shadow.

Meanwhile, a few fifteen minutes later, back at Lucas' hut, Paul had arrived. Lucas was just getting up, rubbing his head.

"Which way did they go?" Paul asked.

"I think they were headed to the frozen lake." Lucas replied. They went outside, got on snowbikes, and drove after the teens.

"Huff…Must…take…break…" Hikari panted, while Shadow impatiently waited in front of her.

"We have to get going!" he said. Then he froze, and pricked up his ears.

"What is it?" Hikari asked.

"I can hear snowbikes coming."

Hikari quickly got up, and they started running down the slope. They came to some broken ice. Shadow was about to run forward, when Hikari stopped him.

"What is it?" he asked. Hikari slowly turned to him.

"Can't you recognise this place? It's where you…died…." Hikari muttered. Shadow looked across the ice.

"Yes…it does look familiar…"

"We're going to have to cross somewhere else."

"There won't be anytime. Paul is coming, I can hear those snowbikes getting louder."

Hikari braced herself, and tried to step unto the ice. It creaked slightly, and she looked at Shadow.

"I think we can cross this, just don't step on until I tell you to."

Shadow nodded, and Hikari carefully started to cross. Shadow looked back, and distantly saw Paul waving his gun at him.

"Hikari…you may want to hurry up…."

"Give it a rest, Shadow."

Shadow looked back again. This time, he could see Paul, Lucas and the other soldiers more clearly. And Paul did NOT look happy.

"Hikari…Paul looks like he's very, very furious…"

"I'm nearly there!"

Hikari jumped to the other side.

"Yes! OK, Shadow! Step lightly!" she called across.

"Easy for you to say…." Shadow muttered as he stepped unto the ice. He carefully managed to get halfway, before Paul caught up with them.

"Freeze, hedgehog!" he yelled. Shadow ignored him, and continued to step across.

Paul grabbed a rifle, and stepped unto the ice. It began to creak loudly, and Shadow started to walk a bit faster, because he didn't want to be on the ice when it cracked.

Paul stopped walking after him, and stared at the ice. Then, with a wild yell, he broke a hole with his rifle, and jumped back as the ice broke.

"I told you I'd kill you when we met again!" he shouted to Shadow, who was running across the ice, avoiding cracks.

"Crap! I really hate you Paul!" Shadow yelled. Then he vanished under the ice, as the crack caught up with him. Hikari stared. She was speechless.

"_Shadow can't swim…" _she thought, remembering the vision Maria showed her. Paul posed in triumph.

"Stay there, Hikari!" he shouted across. Hikari just stood there, blankly staring, until there was a quiet gurgling noise, that sounded suspiciously like 'Chaos Control'.

Shadow appeared, in a bright flash next to Hikari, spitting out water.

"You're going to have to do better than that, Paul!" he yelled at the agent.

Paul stopped his celebrating, and saw Shadow waving at him.

"WHAT?"

Paul stared with his mouth open as Shadow smirked, raised his middle finger as a salute, and shouted across,

"Sayonara, mother fu-"

He had a vision of Maria in front of him, sternly crossing her arms.

"Swearing is NOT nice Shadow. You ought to know better." Maria said crossly. Shadow sweatdropped.

"I meant to say mother fudge brownie." he quickly said.

"Good!" Maria nodded, and disappeared.

Hikari turned to Shadow.

"Let's get out of here, I can see the Mystic Forest." she said. They ran off.

A few hours later, they finally were in the forest. Hikari jumped for joy.

"YES! Now we're nearly at Station Square!" she shouted.

Suddenly, there was a rustle in the bushes. Hikari and Shadow turned around to see a sandy brown fox, wearing a black and white skirt with a black jumper and grey trainers, waving a long staff around, jump out of the bushes. The fox had grey, dull sightless eyes, and she was staring to the left of them.

"Just what do you think you're doing on my territory?" she shouted.

_It looks like there won't be any swearing! ^_^_

Shadow: This is rated 'T' so that's just fu-

*Maria poofs in*

Shadow:...Never mind.


	9. Chapter 9: Brook the fox

_Thanks to Darkrose826 for reviewing! You get a…*awesome drum roll* box of cookies, and a Kuro plushie that barks!_

_Disclaimer: Seriously, do I have to do this? I do not own any Sonic characters that may appear in this story, but I do own Brook, Strike and the jackal. I just realised, I made a small mistake on one of the chapters….FAIL._

Chapter 9: Brook the fox

*Theme song plays*

Shadow and Hikari stared at the random fox, who had jumped out the bushes.

"Who are you?" Shadow asked.

"That's none of your business!" the fox shouted.

She came closer to them, still waving her staff.

"All those who trespass here must be taught a lesson!" she snarled.

"We're sorry! We didn't know this was your territory!" Hikari said in shock, as the fox came closer.

"Yeah, right!"

The fox charged forward, and Shadow shot a Chaos spear at her. She twitched her ears, and then stepped out of the way.

"You're going to have to do better than that!"

The fox charged at Shadow, who jumped out of the way.

"Look, honestly! We're just passing though this part of the forest!" he tried to explain, dodging the swings of the staff.

"I don't believe you!"

Shadow grabbed the fox, and forced her down to the ground.

"Will you please, SHUT UP!" he yelled. The fox stopped struggling.

"Strike! Come and help me!" she called. A medium sized velociraptor came scrambling out of the bushes, and kicked Shadow into a tree. Shadow laid there, stunned, then he jumped up.

"Ok, what the FUDGE is that thing?" he asked, looking at the reptile.

"Strike! Get him!" the fox shouted. Strike rushed at Shadow, who quickly got his Chaos emerald out.

"Chaos Control!" he said, disappearing. The fox tilted her head, and twitched her ears.

"How strange…I can't sense him…" she muttered.

Hikari, finally over her fright, grabbed her frying pan, and prepared to leap into battle, when Shadow appeared next to her.

"I have had enough of this!" he cried, summoning a very large Chaos spear and flinging it at the shocked fox. Hikari cringed and looked away, expecting to hear screams and burning fur. What actually happened, the fox rolled out of the way.

"I see. You are a Chaos Controller. I thought I'd sensed your aura before…Shadow." the fox got up.

"You know my name? Who are you?" Shadow growled. The fox grinned.

"I'm Brook! Otherwise known as the 'Blind Hermit' or 'Runs with Raptors'." The fox offered a hand to Hikari, who shook it. Immediately, the poor teen found her hand being yanked and felt.

"Oh…your aura…it's very fiery, and it seems to burn with hot passion and loyalty towards your friends." Brook dropped Hikari's hand, and went to Shadow, who sweatdropped as his hand was grabbed as well.

"W-what is this?" Brook leapt back in confusion.

"What's wrong?" Shadow asked.

"Your aura…is the same, but it's like…I don't know! Like you've been to the sprit world!" Brook shouted.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but fine."

Strike wandered up to Brook, and hissed quietly in her ear.

"Yeah, you're right…we should get out of here." Brook picked up her staff, and motioned to Hikari and Shadow that they should follow. They went after her.

Brook led them to a camp, hidden among some trees. As they walked into the camp, Hikari dropped her frying pan, and Shadow got into his fighting pose. For in front of them, were five velociraptors, sitting around a campfire. One of them got up, and walked over to Brook.

"This is them? Hunters?" he asked, staring at Hikari. Brook shook her head.

"No. These are friends. So don't eat them, ok?"

The velociraptor bobbed his head, and walked away. Hikari turned to Shadow, with a puzzled expression on her face. Shadow just shrugged. Brook led them over to the campfire, and they sat down.

"OK, now we're in safe territory. So, what are you guys doing here?" Brook asked.

"I'm Hikari. We're travelling to Station Square." Hikari answered.

"Well, I can lead you guys there if you want. The forest's not safe anymore, that's why I attacked you two."

"What do you mean, it's not safe?"

"There's been loads of bounty hunters camping out here. I don't know why they're here, but they've killed Blue and Fang. They shot them…" Brook explained.

"Oh…so what's this aura thing, anyway?" Hikari asked.

"I don't know if you noticed, but I'm as blind as a bat. I cannot see a thing. But I can see people's auras, and I can fight with my staff."

"_Wait….Maria told me to look out for a blind fox…I wonder if Brook's her?"_ Hikari thought to herself. Brook turned to Shadow.

"But….you've been missing for three years. I led you up the mountain with that other guy, and then you just disappeared…People came here, looking for you, but then rumours spread around the city that you were killed by GUN." Brook muttered, looking worried.

"I came here?" Shadow pondered for a minute.

"Yeah, you did…with that guy….oh, what was his name? He was annoying, and he had a habit of calling you faker….Sonny? Sonic? Yeah, I think Sonic was his name."

"Sonic? That name…sounds familiar…" Shadow trailed off, spacing out again.

"Did you lose your memory or something?" Brook asked. Shadow nodded.

"I can't remember much…all I know is, a girl gave me back the memory of how I died, and then I woke up in Hikari's house."

"Hmmm….I think you need the Chaos emeralds."

"I know that, but we're looking for another one."

Brook thought for a moment.

"I know where you can get a Chaos emerald, but the problem is, the bounty hunters are still around, and the Chaos emerald is in some ruins said to be filled with traps."

"We'll go."

Meanwhile, on the mountain, Paul was with Lucas and some more soldiers. They had gotten across the lake, and were nearly on the boundary of the forest.

"_When I get my hands on that hedgehog…." _Paul thought darkly to himself.

In the forest, a light brown wild rat was foraging around in some grass. Oddly enough, the rat was wearing a small orange bandana. It sniffed the ground, and burrowed around. In the bushes, a gang of bounty hunters were watching. One of them turned to the leader.

"Is that it? We came all this way to look for a freaking rat?" he whispered.

"Appearances are deceiving." the leader said. They slowly crept out of the bushes, and walked towards the rat, which suddenly turned into a wild jackal, and snarled at them.

"Come with us….we have cookies…" one of the hunters offered. The jackal looked at him with a 'WTF' expression on its face, and then it ran off.

"Great. Just freaking great." another hunter grumbled.

"We'll have to go and find this Brook, if we ever want to catch that jackal." the leader said. They nodded, and walked off.


	10. Chapter 10: Into the ruins

_Thanks to Darkrose826 for reviewing! You can pick between a Hikari plushie (with frying pan) or a Maria plushie (keep it away from Shadow)_

_Disclaimer: Last time I checked, I own a Shadow the Hedgehog game, but I don't own any Sonic characters. Heck, I don't even own the game, it belongs to my friend!_

Chapter 10: Into the ruins

*Theme song plays*

Hikari, Shadow, Brook and Strike were walking in the forest the next day, searching for the ruins.

"Brook…I hate to say this, but we're lost." Hikari said. Brook stared hard at her, but ended up staring at a tree.

"We're not lost! I know exactly where we're going!" Brook shouted at the tree.

"Brook, you're not even looking in the right direction."

Brook turned around, and felt her way with her staff.

"Sorry…it's just that this part of the forest is unfamiliar to me." she muttered. Shadow looked to his left.

"I think I just found the ruins." he said.

"Where?"

Shadow pointed to a crumbling temple, amongst the trees. Hikari sweatdropped.

"OK…let's go."

They walked to the entrance of the ruins and outside, there were some fox statues.

"Do people come here often?" Shadow asked.

"Not really. They used to, but people say that if you go in there, there's traps, and you never see the light of day again. Or something like that." Brook replied.

"OK then, let's go in."

They walked into the ruins, and inside there were more statues, and broken pillars. Hikari looked around.

"Now where do we start looking?" she asked.

"I think…maybe this way. I can sense something." Brook led them over to a tunnel going down.

"I don't think this way is safe…" Hikari muttered.

They walked down the tunnel anyway, and came to a dead end.

"I knew this way wasn't right!" Hikari shouted.

"Yes, it is. I can feel a draft from behind the wall."

Shadow noticed a small switch on the tunnel wall. He flicked it on, and the wall slid out of the way, revealing a hidden route.

"Let's continue."

The small group walked through the tunnel, solving puzzles and finding more secret tunnels along the way. Eventually, they came to a sand pit with three bridges across it, and runes etched into the pathways. On the other side, there was a broken doorway.

"Would this be one of the traps you were talking about?" Shadow asked Brook.

"Why? What does it look like?"

"There's three bridges with runes on them, and they lead across a sand pit to a doorway."

Brook frowned.

"I can't help you with that…But if there's a sand pit there, can't you just walk or teleport across?"

"No, I can't use Chaos Control, unless I've been near that doorway before. As for walking across the sand pit…" Shadow picked up a rock, and threw it into the sand. The rock slowly sunk out of sight.

"It looks like the sand's actually quicksand." he explained.

"That means we'll have to take one of the paths, then."

Shadow walked to the first path, and stepped onto it. He back flipped out of the way, as a large rock fell down on where he was standing.

"Something tells me that we'd better pick the correct path." he muttered.

"I think it's the middle one. It has runes that are glowing." Hikari said.

"No, that's too obvious. It has to be the last one."

Brook went to the middle path, and walked halfway down it. Some spikes sprung up in her way, and the path began shaking.

"Guys! Give a blind person some help!" she shouted, trying to feel her way back down the path with her staff. Shadow sighed, and quickly grabbed her staff, and yanked her back.

"Thanks…."

"Now we know it's the last path."

Shadow carefully led the way down the other path. Hikari looked over the side, and saw bones drifting on the quicksand.

"I don't like the look of that…" she said to Shadow.

"Then don't look down."

They got to the other side safely, and went though the broken doorway. Inside the room, there was a giant door, with a small imprint in the middle. There was a large crystal placed on a stand in front of it. Hikari turned to Brook.

"Wow, someone had a lot of time on their hands to think all this up." she said.

Brook nodded, and Shadow came over.

"Don't touch anything." he warned them. Hikari looked at him, puzzled.

"Why? Is there another trap?"

"Yes, we're standing right in it." Shadow pointed at the walls, and Hikari gasped, because on the walls were metal spikes that looked dangerously sharp.

"Right…I'll remember."

Shadow began searching around for any clues on how to open the door. He stopped near the crystal.

"_Hmm. This crystal has to be the key to opening the door, but how…?"_ he thought, turning around. His fur brushed against the crystal, and it shot some sparks out.

"Shadow! I think the crystal opens the door!" Hikari shouted. Shadow looked at the crystal.

"Yes, but how?"

"It sparked when you brushed against it…"

Shadow touched the crystal, and it began glowing red.

"I believe that this crystal uses Chaos energy to open the door." he decided. The dark hedgehog summoned a sphere of red Chaos energy in his hand, then placed his hand on the crystal. A red beam of light zapped the door, hit it on the mark, and the door creaked open.

"I think that's it." Shadow called to Hikari. They walked though the entrance, to see a massive statue of a normal fox sitting in front of a table. On the table, there was some treasure, including a glittering blue Chaos emerald. Hikari ran over, and picked it up.

"YES! Emerald get!" she cheered, lifting it high into the air. Shadow snatched it out of her hand, and looked at it.

"Come on…show me my past." he grumbled. The Chaos emerald flashed.

"Do you see anything?" Hikari asked. Shadow eyes widened.

"Yes, I think…I can…that ghost girl…" he slumped onto the ground.

"Huh? Hey, wake up!" Hikari shook Shadow, but he didn't move. Brook tapped Hikari with her staff.

"What is it?"

Brook's sightless eyes narrowed.

"I'm sensing an immensely powerful aura around here…" she said. Hikari stood up, and looked around. There didn't seem to be anything weird going on.

"Brook, let's get out of here."

Brook still glanced around, then followed Hikari as she picked up Shadow and walked out.

Back outside the ruins, Hikari was still carrying Shadow, who was still asleep.

"So, what are you two going to do now?" Brook asked.

"Just go to Station Square, I guess." Hikari replied. Out of the blue, Strike (the velociraptor) ran up.

"HSSSS! HSSSS!" he hissed, jumping up and down.

"Strike? What's wrong?" Brook asked.

"Hssss!"

Hikari had no idea what Strike said, but Brook understood. She whipped around.

"Come on! I have to get back to camp quickly! Strike says the bounty hunters turned up!"

They hurried after Strike. As they came near to the camp, they saw all of the velociraptors tied up. A group of bounty hunters were standing in the middle of the camp, talking.

"Hikari! Explain what's going on!" Brook whispered. Hikari explained, and she leapt up.

"Oh no! I have to help them!" Brook nearly stepped out of the bushes, but Hikari stopped her.

"What are you doing? They obviously want you!" Hikari whispered.

"I have to help them! You don't understand…they're my family, my pack." Brook shook herself free of Hikari's grasp, and walked over to the hunters.

"Ah, so you finally arrived, Brook." the leader said.

"Yes…so, what do you want?"

"We're looking for someone. But first…" he turned to the other hunters.

"Search the bushes, and see if the girl's there!" he shouted. The hunters ran towards where Hikari was hidden.

"Fudge!" she whispered. She turned to Strike.

"Get Shadow out of here, and I'll lead them away!"

Strike kneeled down as Hikari put Shadow on his back, and he ran into the bushes. Hikari pulled out her frying pan, as the hunters found her.

"It's OWNING time!" she cried, jumping up and charging towards the hunters.

A few minutes later, a few of the hunters were nursing their heads. Hikari was with the velociraptors, tied up next to Brook. The leader grinned at her.

"It seems we got ourselves a little bonus, lads!" he said to the other hunters.

_It seems Hikari is in a tight spot…There's an announcement to make. The bounty hunter leader is…Edward Cullen! No, that's a joke. Sadly, he's just a random guy. But there's a lot more twists in store…*cough, bakeneko, cough*_


	11. Chapter 11: To the rescue!

_YAY! Another chapter! (I actually have finished the story already)_

_Disclaimer: Is for wimps. I do not own Sonic, Shadow or any other character that appears. Except for the OCs, I own their souls. I think I need to work on the chapter titles…oh well._

Chapter 11: To the rescue!

Shadow's flashback (at a start of a chapter too…)

It was night. Shadow was in a village, on Snowpoint mountain.

"Just where is that blasted faker?" he thought angrily.

A blue blur raced up to him. It was another hedgehog, with blue and peach fur, and glittering emerald green eyes.

"Hi Shads!" he greeted Shadow.

"Will you please, keep your freaking voice down? And don't call me Shads!"

"Gee, sorry…can I call you Shady?"

"No."

"Mr. Sunshine?"

"No."

"How about Fluffy?"

"FOR CHAOS' SAKE, NO!" Shadow's voice echoed through the village. An old lady opened up her window.

"SHUT YOUR GOB! There's kids sleeping here!" she screamed at Shadow, who sweatdropped. Then she slammed the window shut.

"Yes, anyway, what did you want to talk about?" the blue hedgehog asked.

"Reimaru said that he wants me to join him."

"Say what?"

"He said he could bring Maria back…"

Shadow stopped to look at the blue hedgehog, who was shaking his head.

"No! This is obviously a trap!"

"I'm going to go and meet him, and there's nothing you can do about it."

Shadow started to walk off. The other hedgehog turned around.

"I won't let you!" he cried. Shadow grinned evilly.

"Sonic…do you really think you can stop me?"

Sonic (AKA blue blur) raced towards Shadow, and they began a high-speed fight.

*End of flashback*

Shadow looked around. He was in the dream forest again, and the ghost girl (AKA Maria, but Shadow didn't know that) was standing in front of him.

"So many unanswered questions…Who is Sonic? Who is this Reimaru person? Why do I want to bring a person called Maria back?"

Maria hummed, and looked around guiltily.

"I don't know who Maria is, but she sounds like a nice person!" she said.

"Yes, but who is Reimaru?"

"I don't know."

Shadow just stared into space again.

"I think you might have to go now…Hikari's been caught by Paul." Maria said.

"Hikari? In trouble? OK, how do I get out of here?" Shadow asked.

"Just wake up."

The forest vanished, and Shadow found himself in darkness. He opened his eyes, and found a puzzled Strike looking at him.

"Honk?" Strike asked, tilting his head.

"Where are Brook and Hikari?"

Strike broke into a sentence that consisted of snapping, hissing, and growling.

"OK, I didn't get any of that, but lead the way, Strike!"

Strike lead him through the forest. Meanwhile, in the bounty hunter camp, Hikari and Brook were still tied up.

"I hope Shadow's ok…" Hikari muttered.

"He's probably still asleep." Brook said. The leader of the hunters came over.

"Well, I think it's time we got our reward for catching you." he said, dragging Hikari across the camp.

"What do you want with me?" Hikari cried.

"I don't want you, someone else does."

He untied her, and Hikari stood up. Standing in front of her, was Paul and some soldiers.

"Glad to see you're safe." Paul grinned. Hikari just refused to say anything.

"Where's Shadow?" Paul asked.

"How am I supposed to know?" Hikari grumbled.

"So, he's somewhere around?"

Hikari looked away.

"Let me tell you something, Hikari. At the moment, I have Lucas setting traps near this camp."

"What kind of traps?" Hikari asked. Paul took an item from one of the soldiers, and held it out to Hikari.

It was a rusty bear trap, with sharp teeth. Hikari gasped, and Paul took out a stick.

"Now if Shadow were to walk into one of these…." Paul tapped the trap with the stick, and it snapped shut, breaking the stick in two.

"He would almost certainly bleed to death." Paul finished, with a nasty smile on his face.

"That's AWFUL! It's inhumane!" Hikari yelled, trying to hit Paul as the hunters held her back. Paul shrugged.

"Well, if you could tell me where he is, he wouldn't have to risk getting injured by the traps."

Hikari stopped struggling.

"No! I don't know where he is, and even then I wouldn't tell you!"

"That's it, then." Paul walked off.

A few hours later, it was early night. Shadow and Strike were coming towards the camp, silently.

"If those hunters have hurt her…" Shadow flashed red briefly, and Strike hissed. Out of nowhere, Shadow trod on something that snapped.

"What the hell?" he growled, kneeling down. A bear trap was gripping one of his golden bands, but it had not hurt him at all.

"It would be like Paul to set these, wouldn't it?" Shadow took the trap off, and continued on, avoiding traps. They got to the camp, and lots of GUN soldiers were patrolling around. Shadow turned to Strike.

"Ready to open a tin of Whoop Ass?" he asked. Strike slashed the air with his claws, and Shadow smirked. They charged into the camp, beating the poor soldiers left, right and center. Shadow saw Brook tied to a tree, and went to untie her.

"Where's Hikari?" he asked.

"She's in Paul's tent. I heard one of the soldiers say so." Brook picked up her staff, and went to untie the other velociraptors. Shadow turned to Strike.

"You'd better follow her."

Strike honked, and ran after Brook. Shadow went to Paul's tent, and found Hikari tied up.

"Sorry I'm late. Your sadistic uncle set traps for me." he said, untying Hikari.

"I know. But now we have to get out of here."

Shadow turned, and ended up staring down a barrel of a rifle. Paul was in front of him, pointing the gun at his head.

"Finally…I've got you cornered." he said.

"Can't we talk about this?" Shadow asked, getting slightly worried when he saw Paul's finger on the trigger.

"No, we can't. Farewell. Enjoy the afterlife." Paul pulled the trigger, and Shadow closed his eyes, when suddenly there was a bright blue flash.

Shadow opened his eyes to see a white wolf with blue markings standing in front of him. The wolf was see-through.

"Step out of the way!" Paul shouted at the wolf. The wolf snarled, and a blue portal appeared. Paul turned around to look, and the wolf karate kicked him into the portal.

"I have no idea who you are…but thanks for that." Shadow said. He and Hikari stepped outside, to meet a wall of rifles and machine guns.

"Don't move! Or we'll shoot!" one of the soldiers shouted. The wolf did a neat back flip, and landed in front of Shadow. She (the wolf) opened another portal, and started pushing soldiers in. When she was finally done, the portal disappeared.

"That was officially the most random thing I've ever seen." Shadow muttered. The wolf did a victory pose (like in Okami) and howled at the moon. Then she vanished.

"Let's get out of here." Shadow led Hikari into the forest.

A few days later, the group were on the edge of the forest.

"OK! We made it!" Hikari cheered.

"Great. Now what?" Shadow asked.

"We find Akemi, but first…I want to have a shower, some black coffee, and….OH FREAKING WAFFLES! I NEED TO GO!" Hikari charged towards Station Square, and Brook grinned.

"I guess I'll stick with you guys…" she said. Shadow nodded, and they ran after Hikari.


	12. Chapter 12: Of cats and vets

_Thanks to Darkrose826, Epsilon Team Captain Hande and Jinx The Hedgehog for reviewing! Another awesome guitar solo, please Shadow!_

Shadow: Whatever…*plays epic guitar solo*

_I'm actually lucky I'm updating. I had like three viruses (Windows Restore, Windows Security Alert and Security Tool) and I just had to get rid of them using my mad ICT skills. I have lost some of my stuff (all my favourites…sniff) but my story's OK. I just want to say, if you use Scratch, Deviantart or something that involves downloading, PLEASE BE CAREFUL. Do not click on any downloads unless you're sure where they're from, and if you get messages on your computer saying, 'computer is infected by Trojan horse' or something like that, get it sorted out. That's it for the free ICT lesson!_

_Disclaimer: I own the OCs, not the Sonic characters. There's one more thing…see if you can spot me and my friends (Lucy Labrador and Jon) making a small appearance in this chapter. OK, let's get on with the chapter!_

Chapter 12: Of cats and vets

*Theme song plays* (please listen to it…)

When Hikari had finally found a bathroom, and some coffee, the group headed into town. It was just early afternoon, so there were a lot of furries and humans just going about their daily business in the park.

"OK, let's find Akemi. Do you know where he lives?" Shadow asked.

"Yes…he lives in Westopolis." Hikari said.

"OK. Then let's go."

As they continued into the park, they found themselves (especially Shadow and Strike) being stared at.

"Just what are they looking at?" Shadow whispered to Hikari.

"Maybe you're well known around here."

Meanwhile, sitting on the bench, was a tall man with odd eyes. He watched them walk past.

"_Isn't that…Shadow and Hikari?" _he thought to himself. He got up, and started following them.

As the teens were about to leave the park, a jogger ran past them. He stopped, and turned around slowly.

"Hey! You're that missing girl!" he shouted. Hikari looked around.

"Erm…I don't know what you're talking about." she said quickly.

"Yes, you are. Which would mean…" the jogger looked at Shadow, who was spacing out as usual.

"911! SOMEONE! CALL 911! SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG IS HERE! MAYDAY! RUN FOR YOUR FREAKING LIVES!" The jogger screamed at the top of his lungs, running off though the park.

"What did I do?" Shadow asked, snapping out of his daydream.

"I do not know, but let's get out of here."

Hikari could hear a crowd of people, who had gathered to gawp and gasp at Shadow.

"Wow…it really is him! He's alive!"

"Do you think GUN know he's here?"

"Someone had better go and tell them."

"That hedgehog…he's so epic…"

Shadow sweatdropped at this last comment.

"Come on…let's make tracks." they walked out of the park, and down the road, passing a group of furries with a dog on the way.

One of them, a hawk, turned around to his friend, a black cat with glasses.

"Isn't that the guy you talk about?" he asked. The cat blinked.

"Wait…that was Shadow?" she asked. The hawk nodded.

"Holy Freaking StarClan, Amaterasu, and Tachigami!" the cat collapsed into a sobbing heap on the ground.

The dog barked and ran towards Shadow. She started licking him.

"What? Down, down!" Shadow got the dog to sit down, and he patted her head.

"OK…you'd better get back to your owner."

The dog ran back to the hawk, who was trying to get the cat to stand up.

"Oh, come on! It's not that bad!" he said.

"I had a chance to ask him to sign my DS…And I didn't even have it! I'm a poor excuse for a Medicine Cat!" the cat cried into the ground.

As Shadow, Hikari and Brook walked down the road, Hikari stopped, and quickly shoved Shadow into a alleyway as some GUN soldiers walked past.

"That's it. We need to disguise you." she said, checking to make sure they were gone.

"Disguise me? Disguise yourself!" Shadow muttered.

"You're going to get-"

"HEY! YOU KIDS! STOP!"

Hikari turned around to see the soldiers running towards them.

"Let's go!" she said quickly. They ran down the road.

20 minutes later, they were still being chased. There was a huge mob of GUN soldiers yelling behind them, and random people were pointing and staring. As they ran into an alleyway, Shadow stopped Hikari.

"You guys run. I'm going to lead them off." he said.

"But what if they catch you?"

"They won't. Go on, get out of here." Hikari nodded, and she and Brook ran off. Shadow ran out of the alleyway, still being chased.

When the chase finally stopped, it was early evening. Shadow was resting in another alleyway, and he didn't know where he was.

"_Great. Just great."_ he thought angrily to himself. Hikari would be getting very worried now. He got up to try and look for them, and then he saw a dark shape standing at the other end of the alleyway. He growled as the figure started walking up to him.

"Who are you? What do you want?" he shouted. The figure stopped, and pulled a pistol out. He pointed it at Shadow, who ducked behind a bin.

"_Isn't this just great? I'm now being attacked by a mad random person."_ he peered cautiously over the edge of the bin, and the pistol was fired at him. He quickly sat back down, and summoned a Chaos Spear. He jumped up quickly, and shot it at the guy, who leapt out of the way, and he shot at Shadow.

Shadow ducked down, but he was a little bit slow, so he got hit.

"Damn…" he cursed in pain. The figure came around the side of the bin, and Shadow's sight blurred. He could just about see the figure pointing the gun at his head.

"MRRREEEOWWWW!"

A white blur jumped down onto the figure's head, hissing and clawing away. The shape dropped his gun, and tried to get the blur off his head, but it jumped down, and shot a large blue fireball at the shape. Shadow passed out.

When he woke up, he was still in the alleyway. The cat was meowing, and nudging him.

"Yes…I'm fine, I think…" he winced. The cat mewed and ran away.

An hour later, it came back with Hikari, Brook and Strike. Hikari rushed over to Shadow.

"Are you ok?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm just fine. It's just a fur wound." Shadow said, hiding his injury.

Hikari moved his hand, and saw that his normally white fur was turning red.

"Oh, FUDGE! We have to find a doctor! Don't go into the light!" Hikari shouted.

"…."

Hikari looked to see that Shadow had fainted. She turned to Brook.

"Call someone!" she shouted. Brook turned to yell, but stopped as she saw the white cat again, leading a guy with a white coat, blue trousers and glasses.

"What happened here?" the guy asked. Hikari pointed at Shadow.

"That looks bad…let me see."

He came over.

"If you don't mind me asking, who are you?" Hikari asked.

"I'm Takeshi, and I'm a vet."

"A VET?" Brook shouted.

"Yes, a vet."

A few hours later, Hikari, Brook and Strike were in a waiting room at Takeshi's practice.

"I hope he's ok…" Hikari muttered.

"Don't worry, I can sense his aura, and he's fine." Brook said. The cat came into the room, and Hikari picked her up. She had white fur, blue stripes on her back and sky blue eyes.

"Thanks for saving Shadow." Hikari said to the cat. The cat purred, and waved her tail, which was very long.

_I feel sorry for Shadow. You can guess who the cat is, if you want to. I kind of put in hints._


	13. Chapter 13: Eggbert appears!

_Another chapter! I'm watching Inukami at the moment. It's pretty funny! ^_^_

Chapter 13: Eggbert appears!

*Theme song plays* (I'm not doing this for the benefit of my health, you know…)

At Takeshi's practice, things were just going fine. Shadow had woken up the next day, but he wasn't too happy to wake up with stitches in his chest….

Hikari's flashback

Hikari was in Shadow's room, sitting by his bed with a purring cat on her lap. She smiled as the hedgehog woke up.

"Ow…I have such a headache…and my chest hurts…" Shadow muttered, sitting up.

"What happened to you?" Hikari asked.

"I'm not sure if I can even remember…."

"Oh…Well, you fainted, so Takeshi brought you back here, and gave you stitches, because you were shot three times."

"Stitches…where…"

Just then, an sudden idea came to Shadow's head. He slowly looked at his chest, which had a jagged line on it. Hikari sweatdropped as Shadow's ears flicked back.

"Did he cut…" he trailed off as Hikari nodded.

"He had to find the bullets…" she explained. Shadow's eye twitched.

"YOU LET HIM SLICE ME OPEN?" he shouted at Hikari.

"No…he recommended it…."

"TAKESHIIIIII!"

Takeshi walked in, looking slightly annoyed.

"Oh, you're up, Shadow. That's good. But could you not shout? I'm doing some work."

"YOU FREAKING CUT ME OPEN! I KNEW PEOPLE IN WHITE COATS WERE BAD!" Shadow freaked out as Takeshi facepalmed.

"Now Shadow, if you don't calm down-"

"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!"

Takeshi sighed, and got out a needle.

"If you don't keep quiet, I'm going to have to drug you!" he shouted, waving the needle in Shadow's face. Shadow immediately shut up.

"…Thank you." Takeshi walked out. Then he turned around.

"Hikari, a word? In my office?" he asked. Hikari nodded, and went with him, leaving a slightly startled cat and a shocked Shadow.

"But still…he cut me open…" Shadow muttered. The cat twitched her tail, and pounced onto his head. Shadow just sighed.

In Takeshi's office, Hikari was fidgeting nervously as Takeshi sat down.

"Now Hikari…I understand you and Shadow are wanted by GUN?" he asked. Hikari nodded.

"Yeah…I kind of ran away from home…" she mumbled.

"I'm not going to hand you over to them, so don't worry."

"OK."

"However, you will need a disguise…GUN are starting to search houses randomly

now."

*End flashback*

So, that brings us back to our present moment. Hikari had gotten a disguise, and started annoying Shadow, by eating cookies in front of him, because he wasn't allowed to eat anything sweet. But two days later, Hikari was bored. She had annoyed Shadow, poked Takeshi and the poor cat was in a cupboard somewhere.

"That's it! I need to go to town!" she shouted.

"Don't you think you'll get caught?" Shadow asked, trying to take a purring cat off his head.

"No…This will be perfect. I can try out my disguise."

"Mew."

"Have you named your cat as yet?" Takeshi asked.

"She's not my cat!" Shadow shouted.

"Well, she likes you a lot, so why don't you name her?"

Shadow thought for a moment.

"Sapphire. I'll call her Sapphire." he said.

"Mew!" Sapphire jumped onto his head, and he sweatdropped.

"Are you sure you want to go to town, Hikari?" Takeshi asked.

"Yeah…Don't worry, I'll be careful." Hikari picked up her bag, and walked out.

At the shopping center, Hikari found a bookstore. She sat down in the corner to read some books, and a jackal furry came over curiously. Hikari closed the book, and looked up. The jackal hid behind a bookshelf, so Hikari chose to ignore her. As she was coming out, she bumped into a tall man with oddly coloured eyes.

"Watch it!" he shouted. Hikari jumped back.

"Sorry! It's my fault. Won't happen again." she said quickly. The man looked at her, and took out five dollars.

"Here's some money, go get some lunch. And stay away from Shadow the Hedgehog." he walked away.

"Hey! Wait!" Hikari called after him, but he was gone. She shrugged, and went to the coffee bar. As she was there, some startling things happened. A large robot crashed into the restaurant, and every passerby ran away. Hikari looked up as the robot stood in front of her.

"Scanning girl…scan complete. Girl has traces of Chaos energy. Possible contact with emerald. Commence capture." the robot started a loud alarm, as Hikari jumped out of the way.

" Leave me alone!" she shouted. The robot came over to her, and was just about to grab her, when it was hit by a sword. Hikari looked up to see the same jackal from before, holding a sword. The jackal was wearing a white top, with a denim skirt and she had knee high boots and a orange bandana around her neck.

"Come on! We have to get out of here!" she shouted. Hikari nodded, and followed the jackal. They ended up outside eventually, but as they ran out of the mall, a random fat guy came flying down in a hovercraft.

"OH HO HO!" he laughed, evilly. Hikari sweatdropped as he continued to laugh. Then he stopped.

"Behold! I am the great scientist, Doctor Eggman! Fear me!" the fat guy shouted.

"Haven't I heard of you somewhere?" the jackal asked. Eggman grinned.

"Yes! I menace Station Square, every Thursday!" he cried.

"But today's not a Thursday, it's Friday."

"Ahhh…now where was I? Oh yes…COME WITH ME, GIRL!" he shouted. A robot arm shot out of the ship, and grabbed Hikari.

"Let me go! I do not like being picked up like this!" Hikari squirmed around, as the jackal tried to cut the arm with her sword.

"You're coming with me!" Eggman said. He failed to see a blue blur come racing up. The blue blur cut the robot arm in two, and slowed down. Hikari saw a blue hedgehog, who looked slightly like Shadow.

"Eggbert! You haven't been around in a while!" the hedgehog exclaimed.

"YOU! I'LL BE BACK!" Eggman flew away quickly. The hedgehog turned to Hikari.

"Sorry I didn't get here sooner. I'll be on my way."

"Wait! What's your name?" Hikari asked.

"It's Sonic! Sonic the hedgehog!" Sonic did his usual cheesy thumbs up and grin.

As he walked off, Hikari turned. The jackal was gone, so she sighed and left.

In the shadows, a brown rat with an orange bandana watched.

_Yes, the jackal is my OC. She'll be making more appearances! _


	14. Chapter 14: The evil of needles!

_Thanks to all the nice reviews!  
><em>

_Jinx The Hedgehog: Yes, Sapphire does have a thing for Shadow…it'll be explained later why she's jumping on his head. ^^_

_Disclaimer: You guys should know the drill already….I own the OCs, but I don't own the Sonic characters or Sapphire. Instead, I have to cope with my cousin's cat, who is very grumpy._

_And….COMIC ALERT! COMIC ALERT! There's a second comic for a scene in this chapter, kindly drawn by Lucy Labrador. Check it out, it's on my profile!_

Chapter 14: The evil of needles!

The next day, Hikari was tidying up the waiting room. She eventually finished clearing away the books and newspapers, so she went to see Takeshi.

Hikari walked into the room. Takeshi was looking for something in the cupboard, while Shadow was sitting on a chair, spacing out as usual.

"Anything else you want me to do, Takeshi?" she asked.

"No, you can take a break."

Hikari sat down next to Shadow.

"And how is Shady today?" she asked.

"Humph…" Shadow mumbled.

Takeshi finally found what he was looking for. He took a needle out of the cupboard, and placed it on the table.

"What's that for?" Hikari wondered.

"Oh, it's for Shadow. I'm just going to give him a jab, and maybe take a blood sample as well."

Shadow quickly came out of his daydream.

"Excuse me?"

"Yes, it's for you." Takeshi searched the cupboard again. Shadow peered at the needle, and he went pale.

"Did I ever tell you I don't like needles?" he said, still staring at the needle, as if it would jump up and start dancing.

"I wonder what would give us that clue…" Hikari muttered.

Hikari's flashback

Hikari was sitting by Shadow's bed, reading a copy of Twilight. Takeshi came in, with a box full of needles.

"Hikari, I need you to put these away for me." he said, giving her the box. Hikari nodded.

"What's in the box?" Shadow asked curiously. Hikari tilted the box so he could see, and his eyes grew wide, and started twitching.

"I don't really like needles…" he said, slowly moving away from the box. Unexpectedly, Sapphire came in. She jumped onto the bed, and peered at the box.

"MIAOW!" she mewed, leaping off the bed, and running down the corridor. Hikari sweatdropped.

"It looks like you're not the only one…"

*End of flashback*

"Don't worry. It won't hurt." Hikari said. Shadow's ears flattened. When Takeshi turned around, he saw a shocked Hikari, and a hastily fleeing hedgehog running for his life down the passage, with a trail of dust behind him.

"Maybe I shouldn't have said anything…" Takeshi muttered, holding the needle. Sapphire stuck her head into the room.

"Mew?" she asked, looking around.

"Shadow's not here now. He ran off." Hikari said. Then Sapphire saw the needle in Takeshi's hand. Her eyes widened.

"MIAOW!" she chased after Shadow, as Takeshi facepalmed.

"I need a new job…"

And so, an epic game of hide and seek started. Hikari and Takeshi searched all around the place, looking behind chairs and tables for Shadow. But they didn't find him.

"Where could he be? It's not like this place is big!" Hikari complained. Takeshi thought for a bit.

"Well, he's a hedgehog…we're going to have to think like hedgehogs to find him." he said.

"OK…thinking like a hedgehog…" Hikari pondered.

"I've got it!" she shouted.

Meanwhile, Shadow was hiding in a box in Takeshi's office.

"_They'll never find me here!" _he thought. Sapphire came into the office, and started scratching at the box.

"Mew!"

"Shut up! You're going to lead them to me!" Shadow whispered.

"MEW!" Sapphire mewed loudly.

"OK, OK! You can come in here. Just don't make any noise, ok?" Shadow picked up Sapphire, and ducked back down into the box. Hikari came into the office.

"Hmm…my senses are tingling!" she said.

"_Oh crap…" _Shadow thought. He prayed to all of the gods that Hikari wouldn't find him, when Sapphire sniffed. He looked at her.

"No! Don't sneeze!" he whispered. Sapphire tried her best, but could not hold it.

"Achoo!"

Hikari heard the noise, and came over to the box.

"OK, Shadow. Come out with your paws up!" she shouted. Shadow glared at Sapphire, who was trying to look innocent. Then he jumped up, and ran past Hikari, who chased after him.

"GET BACK HERE! YOU HAVE TO TAKE YOUR SHOTS!" she cried.

"YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!" Shadow yelled back. He managed to avoid Hikari, and he hid in a cupboard. Brook came along.

"Shadow? Are you around?" she asked.

"_Sweet Chaos…I forgot Brook could sense me…"_ Shadow thought. Takeshi came along.

"What's wrong, Brook?" he asked.

"I can sense Shadow somewhere. Oh, well." Brook walked away. Takeshi slowly opened the cupboard, and was met with a curled up ball of spikes.

"That won't help, Shadow."

"I'm not going down without a fight!" Shadow said, sounding muffled. Takeshi sighed, and pulled some gloves on.

A few minutes later, Hikari was trying her best to keep Shadow from moving around.

"It's not that bad!" she said.

"NOT BAD? YOU TRY GETTING JABBED, THEN!" Shadow yelled.

"Well…OH, IT'S WAFFLE TIME, WAFFLE TIME, WILL YOU HAVE THESE WAFFLES OF MINE!" Hikari sang randomly. Shadow stared at her.

"What the-"

Sapphire came into the room.

"MEW!"

Takeshi took this moment to quickly poke Shadow with the needle.

"Ow!" Shadow turned to look at Takeshi.

"See? It only took a few seconds." he said.

"Fine…"

"Mew!" Sapphire jumped unto Shadow's head, purring.

"Oh yes…Since Sapphire was a stray, she'll need shots too." Takeshi got out another needle, and Sapphire stopped purring.

"MIAOWWW!" she tried to run away, but Shadow grabbed her.

"Don't you dare. You got me into this mess, it's only fair you get your shots."

A few minutes later, people outside on the road heard a noise that sounded like a cat yowling.


	15. Chapter 15: Paul's back!

_Still watching Inukami!_

_Darkrose826: I suppose I could post the whole story…I'll try._

Chapter 15: Paul's back!

*theme song plays* (yay, it's back! The theme song decided to take a holiday, so now it's come back!)

Now, everyone's probably wondering what happened to Paul and the other soldiers, after they were attacked by the mysterious ghost wolf (Well, more like teleported). They ended up on the other side of Mystic Forest, far away from Station Square. Paul was the first to speak.

"….WHAT THE F*** WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?" he shouted as a few of the soldiers sweatdropped.

"It seems that the wolf teleported us to a different location, sir!" one of the youngest soldiers said. Paul stared at the guy, and clearly saw he was a new recruit.

"NO S***, SHERLOCK! OF COURSE WE'RE SOMEWHERE DIFFERENT!" Paul roared in the poor soldier's face.

"Sorry sir…won't happen again…" the soldier apologised quickly. Paul turned to Lucas, who wasn't really bothered by the change of scene.

"Find out where we are. You do have the map, right?" Paul asked. Lucas nodded, and took a small map out of his pocket.

"Are there any landmarks around here?" he asked.

"There's a river over there."

"Then that means we were teleported 15 miles to near the Mystic Ruins, instead of near Station Square."

Paul's eye twitched angrily, and Lucas wisely backed away.

"_I was so close to giving that hedgehog a piece of my mind!"_ Paul thought, kicking a rock. He turned back to the soldiers.

"Let's go and find civilisation."

They walked off. In the bushes, the ghost wolf was watching them, and she walked away, disappearing.

The group soon found themselves near a very familiar looking place. They were standing in front of a workshop on a hill. Paul knocked on the door, and a small fox opened it. The fox stared at them.

"It wasn't me! I didn't do anything! Talk to the next-door neighbours! Talk to Big!" the fox cried, cringing at Paul.

"Erm…We just need your phone…Sorry for intruding, Mr…?"

One of the soldiers pushed in front of Paul.

"Oh. Em. Gee. That's Tails the fox! The young genius!" the soldier cried. Paul looked at him.

"You're fired." he said, simply. The soldier walked off, sobbing, and Paul turned back to Tails.

"I'm a GUN agent, and my name is Paul. We need to make a serious phone call, so we're borrowing your landline."

Paul and the soldiers filed past Tails, who just stared.

"Er…OK?" he said. He followed them in, closing the door behind him.

Tails found Paul on the phone in his front room, talking about, well agent stuff.

"Yes…we were teleported to the Mystic Ruins, so we'll catch the train to Station Square. Oh? You don't know where he is? Don't worry, I'll come to HQ and Lucas can finish making his gadget there." Paul came off the phone, and saw Tails watching him curiously.

"This conversation never happened, ok?" Paul asked.

"What conversation?" Tails wondered. The group went to leave, but a blue blur came racing into the workshop.

"Tails! What's going on?" The blue blur asked.

"I don't know. These guys just wanted to use the phone."

Paul and the soldiers stared hard at the blue hedgehog, who somehow resembled a certain grumpy red striped hedgehog. Then all chaos broke loose.

"SHADOW! YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY!" Paul whipped out his gun, and the other soldiers did the same. Sonic (blue hedgie) sweatdropped.

"Whoa! Dudes! I'm not Shadow, I'm Sonic! The fastest thing alive!"

"Prove it!"

Sonic did his trademark thumbs up and irritating grin (ugh). Paul turned to the other soldiers.

"It appears we have mistaken him for someone else. Let's go." the soldiers walked out. Paul was about to leave, when he looked at Tails and Sonic.

"Nobody saw a thing. And I didn't yell Shadow, ok?" he said, walking out. Sonic turned to Tails.

"Why do people keep mistaking me for that faker? We look different!" he shouted.

"I don't know…it's just what GUN likes to do."

"Well, they need to clean those goggles or go to the optician's! Seriously, every single time…."

Sonic's flashback

Sonic was speeding down the road in Station Square. He stopped to admire himself in a shop window.

"Looking good!" he struck a pose. Then he jumped back as inside, a group of girls pressed their faces to the glass.

"IT'S SHADOW! LET'S FANGIRL PILE HIM! RAAAAH!" the Shadow fangirls came rushing out, and piled on top of Sonic.

"I'm not Shadow!" he shouted.

"Don't be silly!"

Shadow walked past the fangirls, never knowing how close he was to being hugged to death. Sonic spotted him.

"Look! Over there! That guy is Shadow!" he pointed at the passing hedgehog.

"No way is that you! That's Sonic!" the fangirls started to hug the life out of Sonic, who screamed for help. Shadow just watched from a safe distance, and thought of taking blackmail pictures to send to Amy.

*Another flashback*

Shadow was sitting by his usual tree (same one from his video game) thinking about life, death, Maria and…fudge.

"_Shadow…what does that name mean?" _he pondered. Suddenly, his vision changed to pink fur, and he was locked in an epic fangirl hug of death.

"OH SONIC! I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU!" Amy gripped the poor hedgehog tightly.

"I'm not that blue faker!"

"Stop making excuses!"

Just as Shadow was suffocating from Amy's hug, Sonic walked past. He stopped, stared at the situation and laughed.

"Sonic's…over there!" Shadow gasped.

"Wait, if you're not Sonic, who have I got then?"

"Shadow…you need to go to freaking Specsavers….Amy…"

Amy let go of Shadow, who instantly teleported somewhere safer with Chaos Control, and raced towards Sonic, her arms ready to choke the life out of him.

"SONIKKUUU!" Amy screamed. Sonic jumped, and ran like Perfect Chaos was chasing him.

*End of flashback*

Sonic shuddered. Amy had chased him for three hours after that, and he'd only managed to get away by hiding at a video game convention. Tails' voice brought him back to his senses.

"Sonic, I thought Shadow was dead! Does this mean he's back?" Tails asked.

"Yeah…you know, he always did have a freaky gift for coming back from the dead."

"Sonic! We can go and find him ourselves! I built a gadget that can trace Chaos energy!" Tails cried. Sonic nodded.

"OK! Faker, here we come!" he cheered.

Meanwhile, back at Takeshi's practise, Hikari was packing her things into a rucksack, while Shadow was trying to get Sapphire into a cat basket. Brook had left early with Strike, because there was some trouble in the forest.

"Come on, it's comfy! Look at the bedding!" Shadow said. Sapphire twitched her tail.

"Meow." she mewed, looking away.

"Just look at this! Catnip! Fetch!" Shadow threw a bunch of catnip into the basket. Sapphire yawned, and ignored him.

"Shadow, I don't think Sapphire's interested in going in there." Hikari said, zipping up her bag and picking up her coat.

"I'm not carrying her."

Sapphire flicked her tail, and somehow managed to leap onto Shadow's head.

"Mew!" she purred.

"Oh, fine. You can stay there, but I'm not going to carry you."

Hikari had an idea. She picked up her rucksack, and shifted the stuff around.

"Look, I'll carry her. She can go in my bag." Hikari showed Shadow the bag. Shadow thought for a bit, and nodded. Takeshi came in.

"Are you lot ready to go?" he asked.

"Yes."

"OK, follow me. I'll take you guys to Westopolis in my car."

"YES! To the Takemobile!" Hikari threw her hands into the air, as Shadow and Takeshi sweatdropped.

"What? I'm not allowed to butcher famous lines?" Hikari asked. They walked out, Sapphire still sitting on Shadow's head.

Takeshi started his car, and drove down the road.

"Any directions?" he asked.

"Yeah…it's across the red bridge."

As the car got to the bridge, Takeshi slowed down and stuck his head out of the window.

"It looks like there's a road block ahead…" he said.

"Shadow, you should get your head down." Hikari mumbled.

"Don't worry, Takeshi and I came up with a plan."

"And that plan would be?"

Shadow took out some cool looking sunglasses, a load of golden necklaces and a red scarf.

The police were talking as the car drove up. One of them came over to the car, and tapped on the window. Takeshi scrolled it down.

"Is there a problem?" he enquired.

"I need to just check who you're travelling with." the policeman stuck his head into car. There was a girl, a purring cat and a furry that seemed to be wearing sunglasses and a lot of jewelry, with a red scarf around his neck.

"YO! What's up, my homie?" the furry asked.

"Nothing…are you a DJ or something?"

"No! I'm a famous rapper! My name is….Midnight!"

The policeman stood back up.

"I don't see any trouble here, you can go though." Takeshi drove off.

In Westopolis, he stopped outside a vandalised flat.

"Yes, here is the place!" Hikari jumped out of the car. Shadow cautiously stuck his head out.

"I don't know Hikari…it seems to be…well, bad." Shadow said, noticing some people partying on a balcony. One of them threw a bottle down unto the pavement.

"Oh, don't worry! This is the place where I grew up!"

Takeshi sweatdropped as one of the drunks on the balcony fell over.

"HELP! I'VE FALLEN, AND I CAN'T GET UP!" he yelled.

"OK, Hikari…if you're sure this is the place…" Takeshi muttered. He took out a piece of paper, and gave it to Hikari.

"My phone number. If you want me to come and pick you up, just call." he explained.

"OK. Bye!"

"Bye." Takeshi drove off.

Hikari took a deep breath, and strode through the entrance of the flat, with Shadow following. She climbed up some stairs, and knocked on a door. There was some shouting, some shooting inside and then a teenager, about 17, with long grey hair that hid his eyes and a blue t-shirt with black trousers and grey trainers whipped open the door. He looked mad, and he was holding a machine gun and a knife.

"Who are you?" he asked, warily.

"Akemi, you need to cut your hair, because you can hardly see." Hikari said. Akemi dropped the gun and knife.

"Hikari? I haven't seen you for years! Come here, little sis!" the teen hugged Hikari, while Shadow and Sapphire looked on.

"You best come in…Paul's been calling me." Akemi said, breaking up the hug. Hikari nodded, and they walked into his apartment.


	16. Chapter 16: Ghost Trick FTW!

_Has anyone played Ghost Trick? It's amazing, and the soundtrack will blow your mind!_

_Disclaimer: Meh, too lazy to type._

Chapter 16: Ghost Trick FTW

*Theme song plays, then suddenly changes to Ghost Trick theme* (WHO DID THAT?)

Hikari was walking in the dream forest again, looking for Maria.

"Hey? Are you around?" she called. There was no answer, just the sound of the wind shaking the trees and bushes. Hikari continued walking on, until she reached a clearing, and she came across a rather random sight.

Some wolf furries were sitting at a big tree stump, playing cards with some velociraptors. One of them, a male dark grey wolf, with yellow eyes, looked up.

"Can we help you, mortal?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm looking for a girl named Maria?"

The wolf thought for a moment.

"No…we haven't seen her at all. Usually she'd be down by the blossom tree now, but we haven't seen her for three days." he said.

"Oh…ok." Hikari started to walk off, when one of the raptors honked.

"What is it?" she asked, turning back.

"Hsssssss, honk, rowl!" the velociraptor wagged his tail.

"What was that?"

"I can translate for you. Blue said he saw Maria running after Reimaru, and she was shouting something like, 'We have to change his fate!' then, Reimaru said something about being reborn…." the grey wolf explained.

"That's weird. What were they talking about?" Hikari pondered. The critters sitting around the table exchanged uneasy glances. Hikari saw this.

"You lot know something, don't you?"

"Well….we're bound by laws here, so we can't tell you anything." the grey wolf muttered.

"Yeah, we don't want Reimaru to get medieval on us." another wolf, this time a black wolf with white patches on her eyes added.

"Come to think about it, we haven't seen Reimaru around, have we…?"

"He clearly stated that if we told HER and that black hedgehog anything, he'd make sure we were reborn as insects!" a white wolf shouted.

There was a rustle in the bushes. Hikari turned to see a familiar looking old man with dark glasses and a very large grey moustache. Then it hit her.

"You look like the fat guy that chased after me!" she yelled.

"FAT? Who are you calling me fat? You're as skinny as a stick!" the old guy yelled back.

"Shut up, old guy!"

There was a loud gasp from the wolves, and whimpers from the velociraptors.

"…What?" Hikari asked.

"Mortal, you just told a person who's on the same level with Reimaru, to shut up!" the grey wolf said, his eyes round like plates.

"So?"

There was another loud gasp, and the sound of crickets chirping.

"Does anyone know where Maria went?" the old guy asked, breaking the silence.

"No…" the grey wolf muttered. Blue opened his mouth to honk, but was stopped by the black and white wolf.

"You wolves know something, don't you?"

"Oh no. Definitely not."

"Didn't you say Maria went off with Reimaru?" Hikari asked.

The wolves glared at her, and then the elderly guy walked forward.

"Well, SOMEONE had better tell me where she is, or you mark my words, there'll be ear wringing tonight!" he threatened. The wolves turned pale.

"RUN! EVERYBODY RUN! SAVE YOUR EARS!" The grey wolf dashed off, followed by the other wolves and raptors.

"YOU WHIPPERSNAPPERS GET BACK HERE!" the old man chased after them. Hikari sweatdropped as there was some yelps and howls of pain.

"HE'S GOT MY EAR! YOW! SAVE YOUSELVES!" the grey wolf cried in the distance. Hikari walked off, and found herself walking in a dark part of the forest.

"I wonder where this place is…" she thought. There was some laughing in front of her, and she jumped, startled.

"So…you're the human that's paired up with that hedgehog!" a deep voice echoed.

"Er…where are you?"

Hikari looked around, then yelled in surprise as a dark shape with blazing orange eyes appeared in front of her. The shape was bigger than she was, was standing on all fours, and was glaring at her.

"You ask, where am I? I am here."

The shape roared, and padded towards Hikari, who found herself unable to move. It stopped, sniffing her and growling though long sharp fangs.

"Yes….you'll do…." the shape muttered.

"I don't know who you are, but you're starting to get on my nerves."

"You know me already. Right, enough talk! Prepare for your end!"

The shape reared up, and Hikari saw seven tails twitch behind it. In the dim light of the forest, she could see that the tails were long and bushy, like a fox's. They had glowing black rings around them. The tails shot towards her, when suddenly-

"MEW!"

Hikari opened her eyes. She was still in Akemi's apartment, lying on her bed in the spare bedroom. Sapphire was on her head, meowing urgently.

"Oh…morning, Sapphire." she greeted the cat, sitting up.

"Hikari! You're finally up!"

Hikari turned her head to see Akemi and Shadow by her bed.

"What? What's going on?" she asked.

"You were screaming and thrashing around for ten minutes, and we couldn't wake you up." Shadow explained.

"Really? But I feel fine…"

"What did you dream about?" Akemi wondered. Hikari told them about the dream.

"That sounds like you had too much cheese last night." Akemi mumbled.

"I DID NOT EAT CHEESE!"

"Yeah, but you still had some milk."

"Milk? That Chaos forsaken drink?" Shadow looked away and closed his eyes tightly, as if trying to forget about milk.

"If you had some, you wouldn't be so small."

"I'M A F*****G HEDGEHOG! I CAN'T HAVE MILK!" Shadow snapped in Akemi's face.

"Sorry." Akemi didn't seem to be too startled.

Hikari got up.

"So, what are we doing today?" she asked.

"Maybe we could stay in." Akemi said.

There was a loud but distant knock at the door. Akemi walked out of the room to answer it. Hikari and Shadow heard the door creak open.

"Hey Akemi!" A male voice called.

"Steven….What are you doing here?"

"I have something in town that I want to show you. It could be good!"

"Sorry…I'm busy."

"Oh, come on!"

There was the sound of heavy footsteps.

"You probably have a girlfriend hidden in here, don't you?" Steven asked, outside the bedroom.

"No, I don't. The reason why I want to-"

Steven opened the door, and saw Hikari and Shadow staring at him. He turned to Akemi.

"Dude, you have a party going on in there!" he exclaimed.

"No, I don't! That's my sister Hikari, and her friend, Shadow."

"Oh….wait, did you say Shadow and Hikari? You know, there was a GUN soldier asking if I'd seen them."

"Yeah, yeah, can you go now?" Akemi asked.

"No! I have a new mission, and that furry can help us with it!"

"Who, me?" Shadow pondered.

"So come on, Akemi! PLEASE!" Steven begged.

"Oh, fine!"

Half an hour later, they were walking though town. Hikari was wearing a hat to cover her hair, and Shadow was wearing a black hooded top.

"So where is this thing?" Akemi wondered.

"It's in the museum. Come on!" Steven led them into the museum. There were a few crowds of people and furries inside. Steven walked down to a display case.

"Behold! A rare gem!" Steven pointed at a glowing green jewel.

"_Hmm…that must be a Chaos emerald. I can sense it…"_ Shadow thought to himself.

"And you want to 'borrow' it?" Akemi asked Steven.

"Yes, we might as well get it, because the museum doesn't need it."

"Wait, borrow? Don't you mean, steal?" Hikari enquired. Steven and Akemi shook their heads.

"Steal…it's such an ugly word." Steven whispered.

"Can you even 'borrow' this? What happens when we get caught?"

"We won't. Because here, we have a hedgehog who can teleport." Steven pointed at Shadow.

"How do you know I can use Chaos Control?"

"You're popular around here, you know."

"OK, let's go home then." Akemi led them out.

_Short chapter, I know. But who is Reimaru? Why is there a random guy in the spirit forest? Who's the dark shape? These answers will be answered soon! :D_

_Except, you should guess who the old guy is yourselves-_

Old Guy: WHO DARES CALL ME OLD?

_KWWWAHH! GHOST! *runs away at top speed*_

_So, post who you think the old guy is in your reviews!_

Old Guy: I'LL SET THE BIOLIZARD ON YOU!

_Got to go! *runs away*_


	17. Chapter 17: 'Borrowing' the emerald!

_Well, here's a fresh new chapter! Thanks to Mickey Chrystal-Kai, Darkrose826 and Epsilon Team Captain Hande. You all get cookies, and a plushie of the old guy- _

Old Guy: HOW DARE YOU CALL ME SENILE! BIOLIZARD, EAT THAT AUTHOR!

*Biolizard appears and roars*

_Disclaimer: *speaks very fast* I don't own any Sonic characters, just my OCs. Got it? I've been doing this for 16 chapters now! And yes, Old Guy is Gerald. *Smiles, then dodges attack from lizard, and runs away*_

Chapter 17: 'Borrowing' the emerald!

*Theme song plays, but is interrupted by loud roar from Biolizard*

Down in Westopolis, it was nightfall. The roads and streets were silent, except for some partying drunks, who were dancing in the road. At the local museum, a security guard was inside at his desk, guarding the door.

"_It's been a quiet night so far." _he thought to himself. There was some mewing outside, and he looked up to see an unusual cat, with white fur and light blue stripes on her back. The cat pawed at the door.

"_I wonder if I should let it in…"_ The security guard pondered. The cat mewed sadly, and sat down, and the security guard came over.

"Shoo!" he said, waving his hand. The cat looked up, with a cute and innocent look on her face. The guard sweatdropped.

"I suppose you can come in…"

He opened the door, and the cat ran in past him. He was about to shut the door, when he saw a pair of glittering red eyes watching him from across the road. The eyes vanished, and the guard relaxed. Then something jumped on him, and hit his head. He fell over, knocked out.

Shadow pulled the security guard's keys off, and looked around.

"Akemi, you can come out now!" he whispered. Akemi came out from behind a car, and they walked into the museum.

"Where is Steven?" Shadow asked.

"He's at my house, looking after Hikari." Akemi replied.

"OK. Let's find this emerald, and get out of here."

They walked up to the display case. As they came nearer, Sapphire jumped in front of them, hissing.

"What's the matter?" Akemi asked.

"Mrrreaooow!" Sapphire waved her tail behind her. Shadow came closer for a proper look, and saw there were many red lasers in front of the case.

"Those lasers are probably alarmed…" he said to Akemi.

"Well, do your stuff. You're lighter than me."

Shadow nodded. He walked past Sapphire and did many back flips and limbo like moves to get to the case. He got there without touching any of the lines, broke the case in, and took out the green Chaos emerald. An alarm started, and some fog rose out of vents in the floor. Shadow held his breath, and used Chaos Control to appear next to Akemi and Sapphire. Sapphire sniffed the air, and fainted. Shadow picked her up, looking worried, but then he saw that she was asleep.

"We have to get out of here. That fog's probably sleeping gas." Shadow offered a hand to Akemi, who frowned.

"I'm not holding your hand." he grumbled. Shadow just yanked him by the arm, and Chaos Controlled.

They found themselves outside Akemi's flat. Akemi glared at Shadow.

"Why did you that for? I don't like having my personal space invaded by other people!"

Shadow just let go of his arm, and knocked on the door. Steven opened it, grinning.

"Did you get it?" he asked. Akemi nodded.

"The police might find out that we stole the emerald though." he explained as they walked in. Hikari came racing up, grabbed the emerald off Shadow, and raised it into the air.

"EMERALD GET!" she shouted, waving it. Shadow just facepalmed.

"Just give me the emerald back, before you hurt yourself."

Hikari nodded, and gave the emerald back. Steven was watching, with a secretive look on his face.

"Who's going to keep the emerald?" he asked.

"I want Hikari and Shadow to have it. They actually need it." Akemi muttered.

"Oh, fine."

"I was the one who took this, you know." Shadow put the emerald in his head spikes (how does he do that?) and walked away.

In the morning, some loud shouting waked up Hikari. She got up, went to the front room, and saw Akemi fighting with Steven. Shadow was still asleep on the sofa.

"Akemi! What are you doing?" she shouted.

"Go get your stuff! Steven called GUN!" Akemi dodged a punch from Steven, and kicked him.

"OK!"

Hikari walked over to Shadow, who was still asleep, despite all the shouting and cursing going on. She shook him, but he did not wake up.

"_He must be having a flashback…"_ Hikari thought, as his ears twitched.

Behind her, there was a crash. Hikari turned to see Akemi lying on the floor, and Steven watching her.

"Hand the Chaos emeralds over. Now." Steven said.

"No!"

Hikari picked up Shadow, and dashed back to the bedroom as Steven chased her.

"I'm warning you, Hikari!" he yelled, coming towards her. Hikari grabbed her frying pan, which was in her bag.

"No! You lied to us!" Hikari shouted.

"MRRREOOOOW!"

Steven turned, and a white blur came flying into his face. Sapphire sat on his head, determinedly covering his eyes.

"Get off!" Steven flailed around, and then managed to pull Sapphire off his head. He threw the poor cat into a wall, and turned back to Hikari, who was still hanging on to her pan.

"Give me the emeralds!"

Hikari got up, and charged at him. Steven just grabbed her.

"Let me go!" Hikari struggled.

"I have had enough of-"

There was a loud smack behind Steven. He slowly fell over, revealing a ruffed up Akemi with a heavy textbook.

"These books aren't just for looks, you know." he said, dropping the book.

"Thanks! But why did Steven call GUN?"

"I didn't want to tell you, but there's a reward for the person who brings you and Shadow to them."

"How much?"

"It's 100 rings for you, and 250 rings for Shadow."

"Wow. Do you think we could get the reward if I handed myself in?"

"Enough talk, we've got to go. It seems I can't trust anyone I know, so I'll take you to a hideout on the edge of Westopolis." Akemi explained. Hikari walked over to Sapphire, who was getting up.

"You were brave, too."

Sapphire purred, and looked at Hikari with a familiar blue gaze. Hikari blinked.

"_No…it can't be…I'm seeing things."_ she thought.

Meanwhile, miles away at the GUN headquarters, Paul was sitting in his office, on the computer. He looked up as Lucas came in.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I've finished making my gadget."

_Pant, pant…yes, there'll be more chapters up. So many unanswered questions…._


	18. Chapter 18: Paul strikes back!

_It's a new chapter!_

Chapter 18: Paul strikes back!

Shadow's flashback

Shadow slowly got up. He was in the dream forest, next to a large blossom tree.

"Ow…my head hurts…" he grumbled, rubbing his head. He looked around to see a girl watching him.

"I'm so sorry Shadow…you're dead…" the girl said sadly.

"Shadow? Is that my name?"

"Yes…you don't remember anything, do you?"

"I…don't know."

"You drowned."

"Say what?" Shadow exclaimed in shock.

"You were being chased, and you fell into a lake."

"Chased by who?" Shadow asked.

"Chased by humans." Shadow turned around to see a normal fox, with orange fur, and a bushy white tipped tail.

"Master Reimaru wants to make a deal with you two." the fox said.

"Yeah, and then he'll trick us into some complicated deal." the girl frowned.

"He was captured by soldiers, while in his weakened state. I am Sanbi, the third tail who managed to escape." the fox explained.

"What happened to the other tails?" the girl asked.

"They were caught, along with Master Reimaru. I was lucky that I managed to flee here, but I can't go back without possessing a living thing." Sanbi growled.

"I guess we could give Reimaru one more chance…" the girl muttered.

"Thank you. Now, the conditions of the deal…"

*End of flashback*

Shadow looked around. He seemed to be in a dark forest, with a full moon in the sky.

"So, you're here." a voice said.

Shadow turned to see Sanbi, watching him from the bushes.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"I believe it is time I told you about your deal with Master Reimaru. If you do not break his seals by the next solar eclipse, you and that cat will cease to exist." Sanbi smiled.

"Cease to exist? What are you on about?"

"When you collect two more Chaos emeralds, I will tell you where to go. Farewell." Sanbi vanished.

Back in the real world, Shadow woke up. He was lying in an alleyway, behind a bin.

"_I wonder what's going on…"_ he thought, getting up.

"Shadow! Keep your head down!" Hikari's voice hissed. Shadow quickly ducked down.

"Why are we here?" he asked.

"We're hiding from Paul!" Hikari whispered.

"Paul's here? Where's Akemi and Sapphire?"

"Akemi was caught, and Sapphire is down there." she pointed at Sapphire, who was sitting on a wall.

"You've been asleep for four hours!" Hikari grumbled.

"That long?"

"Yes, and you were snoring!"

Sapphire hissed, and jumped off the wall. Paul and Lucas were walking down the alleyway, searching for Hikari and Shadow.

"We know you two are here!" Paul shouted.

"Should I set up the device, sir?" Lucas asked.

"Yes, and do it quick."

Lucas nodded, and got out four rods with purple gems on the ends.

"What do you think those are?" Hikari whispered.

"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling…" Shadow replied. He got up, silently summoned a Chaos spear, and threw it at Paul. Paul saw it coming, and dodged out of the way.

"So that's where you are!" he yelled.

"How have you been, Paul? I see that you don't have your minions around." Shadow said.

"No, I don't. Because here, we have a gadget that'll sort you out."

Shadow just smirked, jumped into the air, and summoned more Chaos Spears. He threw them, but they vanished into thin air.

"What…the hell…" he growled, landing on the ground.

"You can't use your Chaos abilities any more!" Paul laughed. Shadow looked past him, and saw the rods were glowing purple.

"I don't need my abilities to stop you!" Shadow was about to race forward, when he collapsed.

"OK, what do those rods do?" he growled.

"They also drain your Chaos energy away." Paul explained. The hedgehog froze.

"_I'm definitely screwed now…" _ he thought. Hikari came rushing out with her frying pan, and tried to hit Paul, who simply grabbed her.

"Young lady, when we get home, you're going to boarding school." he said sternly.

Sapphire ran towards him, and stopped by his feet.

"MEW!" she said. Paul started to take his gun out.

"I really, really don't like cats." he muttered. Sapphire hissed, and backed away slowly. Then she leapt past Paul, and started clawing at the rods.

"Scratch all you want, those rods are practically-" Paul paused as he saw Sapphire glowing blue. A large fireball appeared, and she launched it at the rods, destroying them. She turned slowly to Paul, while Lucas freaked out.

"NOOO! IT TOOK ME TWO WEEKS OF COFFEE TO MAKE THAT!" Lucas yelled, having a little tantrum.

"Meow…." Sapphire mewed innocently, stalking up to Paul, who was freaking out as well.

"Keep back!" he shouted. Sapphire twitched her tail, and ran towards him. Paul and Lucas ran off.

"I'LL BE BACK, BAKENEKO!" Paul shouted over his shoulder. Hikari struggled free, and managed to whack him with the frying pan.

"THAT'S FOR TRYING TO KILL SHADOW, YOU F***!" she yelled after him. Sapphire ran over to Shadow, who wasn't moving. Hikari came over, and picked him up. His red stripes were gone.

"Oh no…."

_In the next chapter, there's something unexpected…._


	19. Chapter 19: Tails appears!

Chapter 19: Tails appears!

Hikari shook Shadow, who didn't move.

"_His fur is going cold…"_ she thought to herself. Sapphire mewed, looking worried.

"I guess I should be asking how you managed to shoot a fireball out of nowhere, but it doesn't matter now." Hikari said to the cat.

"Meow." Sapphire rubbed her head against Shadow's hand. Hikari looked up as Akemi came racing towards her.

"Hikari! Are you OK? What happened?" Akemi panted.

"Well, Paul turned up and used some strange thing on Shadow and now he's passed out." Hikari explained.

"We'll have to get out of here, before Paul comes back…"

There was a barking noise. Hikari and Akemi turned to see a familiar looking jackal furry. The jackal was female with light brown fur and long ears that were twitching, she had a white t-shirt with a denim skirt and knee high boots. She had yellow eyes, and was carrying a sword, and she wore an unusual orange bandana around her neck.

"Akemi, who is she?" Hikari asked.

"I don't know, she just randomly appeared out of nowhere."

Akemi's flashback

Akemi was in a GUN van, trying to get out.

"_I have to get back to Hikari!"_ he thought, kicking the door. The door flew open, and Akemi ran out.

"Ah, sweet-" he stopped as he saw some GUN soldiers pointing their guns at him.

"Amaterasu…"

He braced himself, but out of the blue, there was a loud snarl. He looked to his left to see the jackal furry snarling at the soldiers. The soldiers quickly pointed their guns at her, and Akemi took advantage by fleeing. The jackal chased after him, and quickly caught him up. She leapt in front of him, growling.

"What did I do?" Akemi asked. The jackal continued growling. Akemi looked past her to see an advancing GUN soldier.

"Duck!" the teen shouted. The jackal quickly ducked unto the ground. Akemi grabbed a glass bottle, and flung it at the soldier, knocking him out.

"Are you OK?" he asked. The jackal nodded, not looking at him directly.

*End of flashback*

Hikari stared at the jackal, who flinched and looked away.

"I know you! You saved me from a robot!" Hikari shouted.

"Yeah…" the jackal muttered. Akemi frowned.

"You talk? I thought you were a feral jackal, by the way you were growling." he said.

"Ugh…" Shadow groaned.

"Shadow? Akemi, we'd better look for help quickly." Hikari said.

"OK."

"Follow me." the jackal said, beckoning to them. She walked off.

"We should follow her." Akemi muttered. They went after the jackal, who led them down a back road. She stopped in front of a small fox furry.

"Huh? What are you doing here?" the fox asked.

"They need help." the jackal pointed at Hikari.

"Holy Chaos! It's Shadow without his red stripes!" the little fox cried.

"Yes, we know that…can you help?" Hikari asked. The fox nodded.

"I have a workshop just outside town, it shouldn't take long for us to get there. My name is Tails." he said.

"OK." Hikari was about to follow the fox, when Akemi grabbed her shoulder.

"Can we even trust him?" he whispered.

"Look at him. Doesn't he look harmless?" Hikari replied.

"I'm not sure about this guy…" Akemi blinked as Sapphire ran past him, and jumped unto Tails' head.

"Oh, hey! Is this your cat?" Tails asked, petting Sapphire.

"No, she's Shadow's cat." Hikari explained.

"Strange…I never thought Shadow liked cats…"

They followed Tails.

A few hours later, they were at Tails' workshop, waiting in his front room. Hikari had just finished telling Tails what had happened since she left her house.

"So, you've got three Chaos emeralds?" Tails asked. Hikari nodded.

"I have the fourth one, but it belongs to Sonic. He's out running right now, but he should be back soon." Tails said.

"How's Shadow?" Hikari asked.

"He's fine, just tired. He's in the spare bedroom upstairs, if you want to see him." Hikari ran upstairs, and into the bedroom. Sapphire was sitting on a chair, watching Shadow who was asleep on the bed. He was holding the red and blue Chaos emeralds, and his golden bands were off.

"Mew…" Sapphire mewed quietly.

"Hi, Sapphire."

Hikari sat on another chair, and soon fell asleep.

At night, she was woken up by someone nudging her.

"Oh…what is it…" she yawned, and opened her eyes, only to be met with a smiling Maria.

"Hi, Hikari!" she said. Hikari's eyes grew wide.

"GHOST!" she screamed.

_GHOST! GHOST! IT'S A GHOST! AAAAH! *runs around like a headless chicken*_

Maria: ¬_¬


	20. Chapter 20: Return of ghost girl!

_Whew…sorry for not updating yesterday…been busy with homework, and just today I couldn't log into my account…But anyway, here's a new chapter full of explanations and possible plot holes! As for the whole Bakeneko thing, I got the idea from Cat Paradise, which is a manga. Look up Bakeneko on Wikipedia._

_Disclaimer: ¬_¬ …..no. I do not own any Sonic characters, but I own Reimaru and any other OCs._

Chapter 20: Return of ghost girl!

*Theme song plays* (_I might just do a extra chapter, where there's lyrics…_)

Maria sweatdropped as Hikari screamed, and waved her arms.

"I'm sorry! Sorry for never praying!" Hikari shouted.

"Hikari…"

"So sorry about that time I spilt tea on the carpet, and blamed it on Kuro!"

"Hikari!"

"And I'm very sorry for not tiding my room!" Hikari cried.

"HIKARI!"

Hikari stopped yelling, and looked at Maria.

"You probably want to take me to my doom, don't you?" Hikari whispered.

"No…I just wanted to say hi…"

"Oh." Hikari calmed down. Then she looked around for Sapphire.

"Say, have you seen a little cat around here?" she asked.

"Erm…I am the cat."

Hikari's eyes widened even more.

"GHOST CAT!" she screamed.

"The correct term would be, 'bakeneko'" Maria corrected her.

"OK. BAKENEKO!" Hikari yelled.

"Could you not scream, you might wake up Shadow…though, he could sleep through a nuclear explosion, tropical storm and the apocalypse…" Maria turned to Shadow, who was snoring very loudly.

"SSNNNORRRRREEEE…..purr…SSSSNOOOREE." Shadow turned over. Hikari finally stopped freaking out, and calmed down.

"OK, I'm done. So, how come you're here?" she asked.

"I made a deal with someone, and I was turned into a bakeneko."

"Who?"

"Maybe it's best I start from the beginning…"

Maria's flashback (good Amaterasu, is this a new trend? For random flashbacks?)

Maria was in the dream forest, sitting by her usual tree and thinking about Shadow.

"_Maybe I should use that dream trick again, and see him."_ she thought. As she was daydreaming, there was a rustle in the bushes. Maria looked up to see a dark figure, with glowing orange eyes and seven tails twitching and waving behind it.

"MUHAHAHAHA…cough." the shape cackled.

"Reimaru? What are you doing here?" Maria asked.

"…I just laughed evilly. Aren't you going to run?" Reimaru wondered.

"No. I grew up with someone who had a habit for laughing evilly, so I'm used to it."

"Awkward….ahem. I can't stay very long in this spirit realm, but I have something to show you."

"Does it have anything to do with evil things, death, and fighting?"

"Maybe…"

"I'm not moving." Maria sat firmly by the tree.

"It's about Shadow…" Reimaru muttered. Maria jumped up.

"What is it? Good news or bad news?" she asked.

"Bad news."

"Take me there."

Reimaru nodded, and bounded away, with Maria following. They came to a clear pool in a middle of a clearing.

"Go ahead and look. It may shock you, but you need to know." Reimaru sat down, as Maria looked into the pool. She had a vision.

*Vision* (oh great, a flashback within a flashback… ¬ ¬ )

Shadow was hiding behind a bin, in a dark alleyway. There was a dark figure standing a few metres away, watching him. Shadow summoned a Chaos spear, jumped up, and shot it at the figure, who dodged and pointed a gun at him. There was three bangs, and Shadow ducked down, holding a hand to his chest.

"Damn…" he cursed. The figure came around the side of the bin, and pointed the gun at the poor hedgehog's head.

'BANG'

Shadow slumped over. The figure grinned, and looked to the sky, revealing a pair of oddly coloured eyes. One eye was brown, while the other was blue.

"Justice…" he muttered, walking off.

*End of vision*

Maria gasped.

"Oh my…Shadow's…" she trailed off.

"That was a vision of the future. It's going to happen in ten minutes from now. You can still change his fate." Reimaru explained.

"How? I don't have any powers of the dead."

"You don't need powers, you just need a second chance."

"What are you saying…?"

Reimaru grinned and got up.

"Now, what if my paw slipped, and I used my shapeshifting powers on you?" he asked.

"Isn't that bad?"

"You won't be yourself when you get to the other side. You'll be a bakeneko, a cat who's a ghost in a living form."

"Aren't bakeneko demons?" Maria asked suspiciously.

"They are, but they just get bad legends made up about them." Reimaru answered.

"I don't know…this sounds fishy."

"Shadow's clock is ticking. Tick, tock, tick…"

"I…I accept." Maria said.

"Good…I'll lead you to the gateway, shall I?" Reimaru walked off, smiling a secretive grin. Maria followed him, and they came to an old ruined gate.

"When you walk though that gate, you'll be turned into a bakeneko instantly. You'll be able to control fire, be pretty much immortal, but you won't be able to talk, until Shadow guesses himself, who you are." Reimaru explained.

"Can I give him hints?"

"Yes, you can, but you can't get someone to tell him who you are, or you'll die again."

"Anything else?"

"You'll turn back to your human form on full moon nights. But you won't be seen by anyone, unless you allow them to see. And Shadow won't be able to see you."

"OK…then I guess I'm ready."

"Well, what are you waiting for?"

Maria turned around and walked through the gate. There was a bright flash, and she found herself sitting on a rooftop.

"OK…I'm a cat…" she thought, looking down at her paws.

There were some loud gunshots from a few yards away. She quickly got up, and raced to the ledge, and peered down. The man was just coming towards Shadow, grinning in triumph.

"Oh no…I have to attract his attention somehow…" she thought.

"Hey! Up here! Look!" she shouted. All she heard was crazy mewing and hissing. The man didn't even look up, he just pointed the gun at Shadow's head.

"_I guess I'm going to have to jump.."_ Maria braced herself, and jumped down, mewing as she did so. The man looked up to see a very determined cat falling towards him.

"What the…" he muttered. Maria landed on his head.

"OK, drop the weapon now, and I won't use my claws!" she mewed. The man started running around, trying to get her off. He succeeded, and dropped Maria on the floor. He turned back to Shadow, who was watching. Maria jumped up.

"That didn't work…" she thought. Then an idea came to her mind. Reimaru said she had control over fire, so why not summon some?

She jumped, and a large fireball appeared. The man's eyes widened.

"OH, S***" he hastily retreated down the alleyway. Maria made the fireball vanish, and ran over to Shadow, who had passed out.

"Hang in there…" she thought.

*End of flashback*

"Oh, I get it! Sapphire was you the whole time!" Hikari shouted.

"Yes…but you can't tell Shadow."

"Don't worry, I won't…though I feel bad for not telling him anything."

The next morning, Hikari was downstairs having breakfast with Akemi and Tails. Shadow came down the stairs. His red stripes were back on his fur, and there was a very happy cat curled up on his head.

"How are you feeling?" Hikari asked.

"Refreshed…Though, I had a dream that a random person was shouting and screaming…" Shadow shrugged, and walked away. Sapphire (Maria) jumped off his head, and ran to Hikari.

"And you look happy this morning." Hikari greeted her. The ghost cat winked. Then, the kitchen door opened. Sonic came in.

"Hi Tails! Who are these people?" he asked.

"This is Hikari and Akemi." Tails explained. Sonic walked into the front room.

"WOAH! SHADOW! THERE'S A DEAD GUY SITTING ON MY SOFA, TAILS!"

Tails sweatdropped.

"I'M NOT DEAD, OK!" Shadow yelled at Sonic.

_Ah…excuses, I have none. Well, now you know why Sapphire likes Shadow a lot…Has anyone spotted Ghost Trick references? I tend to sneak them into the chapters._


	21. Chapter 21: Blue versus black

_An update! I'm off school now, so I can update even more (instead of at ungodly hours in the night…)_

_In other news: I might start a new RPG (for Sonic). I'm not sure when, but if you're interested, let me know! _

_Disclaimer: Must be stopped._

Chapter 21: Blue versus Black!

*Theme song plays*

Tails, Hikari, Akemi and Sapphire were watching Sonic and Shadow argue, sweatdropping simultaneously.

"SHUT UP, FAKER!" Sonic yelled, up in Shadow's face.

"YOU SHUT THE F*** UP! YOU'RE THE FAKER!" Shadow cried back.

"HUSH YOUR GUMS!"

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!"

"FAKER!"

"UP YOURS!"

"FAKING SOD!"

"MEEEOOOOWWWWW!" Sapphire jumped between them, hissing and looking annoyed.

"Guys, do you think you can stop arguing?" Hikari asked.

"NO, WE CAN'T!" Shadow yelled at her.

"There's only one way to settle this!" Sonic cried. Shadow turned.

"FIGHT!"

A few minutes later, they were in the garden, glaring at each other. Tails stood in the middle, with Sapphire.

"OK, this fight is for the fourth Chaos emerald! The winner gets to keep it!" the little fox called. Hikari and Akemi were watching from the doorway.

"I don't like this…" Hikari muttered.

"It's live wrestling!" Akemi said in excitement.

Tails hurried over to them, with Sapphire following. He sat down.

Sonic and Shadow stared at each other. Shadow bared his fangs, while Sonic clenched his fist.

"Let's do this!" he shouted, rushing at Shadow. The dark hedgehog smirked, and charged forward as well. One could almost hear the Mortal Kombat theme playing.

"Akemi…what are you doing with that loud speaker?" Hikari asked. Akemi grinned, and pushed a button. The Mortal Kombat theme started playing.

"MORTAL KOMBAT!" the speaker screamed.

"I just couldn't help myself."

They turned back to the fight. Sonic was trying to kick Shadow, who was blocking his attacks. The dark hedgehog then curled into a ball, and flew at Sonic, who dodged out of the way. Shadow uncurled himself, and smirked.

"CHAOS SPEAR!" he shouted, throwing a Chaos spear. It hit Sonic, burning his fur slightly.

"Is that all you got?" Sonic grinned. He started running in circles, making a strong wind.

"Sonic wind!" he yelled. Shadow blinked as the strong wind sent him flying into a tree. He landed on the ground, knocked out. Sonic walked over to him.

"YEAH! Take that, faker!" he cheered. He turned to go to Tails, which was his mistake. Shadow leapt up, grabbed him from behind and started glowing red.

"Oh no…" Sonic tried to get free, but Shadow smiled.

"CHAOS BLAST!" he cried. There was a loud explosion, and some smoke went up. When it cleared, Sonic had burnt fur, and Shadow did not have a scratch on him, despite flying into a tree.

"You've had it, Shadow!" Sonic shouted.

They started trying to kick each other again, becoming blurs on the field. Near the doorway, Hikari was biting her nails in fear (for Shadow) Akemi was eating a big bag of popcorn, Tails was tinkering with some gadget, and Sapphire was sitting down, looking very frustrated.

"MEW!" she mewed, whipping her tail.

"You're right! I can't take this any longer! Someone has to intervene!" Hikari exclaimed. She was about to get up, when she realised if she did run into the fight, it would be very likely she would be Chaos speared, kicked, punched, spiked by long quills, and possibly bitten.

"I think I'll stay here…" she slowly sat back down. Sapphire just shook her head, and bounded into the fight.

"Sapphire! Come back!" Hikari called.

"What is she doing?" Akemi wondered.

Sapphire stopped between the two hedgehogs, who were panting.

"Hey, Shads, isn't that your cat?" Sonic asked, dodging a Chaos spear.

"Yes…Sapphire, would you please go and sit down?" Shadow asked the ghost cat. Sapphire stubbornly stared at him.

"Mew!" she mewed, twitching her tail.

"You're going to get hurt."

"MEOW!"

"Fine…" Shadow and Sonic started fighting again. Then Sapphire got really annoyed.

"MEOW MEW MEOW!" she mewed, glowing blue. Sonic and Shadow stopped to look at her.

"Why is she glowing?" Sonic asked.

"I think we should-"

There was a loud explosion, almost like a Chaos Blast, but with less destruction. Hikari and Akemi stared as the smoke cleared, revealing a knocked out Sonic, a groaning Shadow and a purring Sapphire in a charred patch of grass that had a few blue flames around it. Sapphire blew out the flames, and walked up to Hikari, Tails and Akemi, who were staring with O_O expressions on their faces.

"Er…Sapphire gets the Chaos emerald, no questions asked!" Tails announced, quickly giving the purring cat a yellow Chaos emerald, before running away.

"Ow…that cat of yours can fight, Shads…" Sonic groaned.

"She owned the fur off us, didn't she?" Shadow replied, sounding muffled, because his head was buried in some grass.

Meanwhile, in a back street on the edge of Westopolis, there was a shiny glowing light blue jewel sitting in a bin, looking quite abandoned. There was a scuffling noise, and a feral brown jackal, wearing an orange bandana, came over and sniffed the emerald. She picked it up in her mouth, looking at it, when there was some shouting.

"She ran in there!" a voice shouted, nearby. The jackal quickly ran off, but she tripped up and somehow managed to swallow the blue gem. She whimpered, and started running again.

_Yes, I know it's kind of a plot hole for a jackal to be able to swallow a Chaos emerald (have you seen the official ones? They're pretty big!) but…so what? I'm in school, who needs logic?_


	22. Chapter 22: Tachi the jackal

_Another chapter! Some people might know Tachi from other stories…she acts like she's wild in this story, but later on she's much more calmer. Just thought I'd say that. Thanks to Darkrose826 and Epsilon Team Captain Hande for reviewing! _

_Other news: I'm planning the sequel to this story now!_

_Disclaimer: I own Tachi, and the other OCs. If I owned any Sonic characters, I would have made a third Sonic adventure, with cute cats._

Chapter 22: Tachi the jackal

*Theme song plays* (_Please listen….)_

It was early morning, in Westopolis, and people were just going about their business, shopping, waiting at the bus stop, or in some cases, being drunk and creepy. A man was sitting outside by the road on a bench, unwrapping a donut.

"They do say breakfast is the most important meal of the day!" he said cheerfully, to no one in particular. As he was about to take a bite out of the donut, a furry blur ran past, snatching it out of his hands.

"HEY! BRING THAT BACK!" he shouted. The blur turned around, and the man saw a small brown jackal with an orange bandana tied around her neck, holding his donut in her mouth.

"I'm serious!" the man cried, getting up. The jackal sprinted down an alleyway, and sat in the darkness of a bin, eating the donut. When she had finally finished, she got up, and saw something sparkling. The jackal walked over curiously to see what it was. She looked down at a small earring, which was shining brightly in the sunlight. She sniffed at it, and then felt herself being grabbed by a pair of hands.

"Finally, we've found you, T237!" the owner of the hands, a man, shouted. The jackal panicked and scratched his face with her back paw. The man dropped her to nurse his injures, and she ran off down the main road. The owner of the donut saw her.

"GET BACK HERE, YOU MANGY STREET MUTT!" he yelled, chasing after the poor jackal. The jackal ran across the road in a hurry, not seeing the car that was driving down the road.

"SCREEECH! THUD!"

Sonic was running down the street, occasionally blowing the skirts of random girls up by mistake.

"KWAAAAH!" one of the girls screamed, attempting to regain her dignity.

"Sorry, ma'am!" Sonic called back. Then he saw a crowd gathering in the road. He slowed down, and went to investigate.

"Excuse me! World hero, coming though!" he cleared a path though the crowd, and saw what they were looking at.

The brown jackal was lying in front of the car on her side. Her fur was bloodstained from where the car had hit, and there was some blood on her mouth.

"What happened?" he asked a random lady, who was next to him.

"That jackal just ran across the road, and it got hit by the car." the woman sighed, shaking her head. A man walked over.

"OK, people! There's nothing to see here! I'm going to take it to a vet!" the man said. He reached out to touch the jackal, which lunged forward and bit his hand.

"OW! You're coming with me, you flea bitten stray!" he tried to grab the jackal, who whimpered, and jumped back.

"It looks like that jackal doesn't want to go with you." Sonic said to the person.

"Keep out of this, porcupine!" the man shouted, trying to pick up the canine again. The jackal growled, and bit his arm, refusing to move.

"YEEEOW!" the man managed to pry her jaws off, and she dropped on the floor, knocked out. As the man was recovering, Sonic picked up the jackal, and ran off.

He soon reached Tails' workshop n the Mystic Ruins, and walked though the door. Tails was sitting on a computer, Akemi was listening to music on an iPod, and Shadow and Hikari were playing chess.

"Checkmate." Shadow moved his piece forward.

"It's not fair! You keep on winning!" Hikari shouted.

"My intelligence is above average."

"Are you calling me dumb?" Hikari asked, somehow holding her frying pan.

"You were a worthy opponent." Shadow quickly replied. Sapphire jumped unto the table, and started nudging chess pieces back into place.

"So, you challenge me?" Shadow smirked. Sapphire narrowed her eyes.

Tails turned to see Sonic in the doorway.

"SONIC! NO PETS!" he yelled, pointing at the jackal.

"She's hurt!"

The jackal whimpered quietly, and Tails softened up.

"I'll try and help her." he took the jackal off Sonic.

A few hours later, the jackal woke up, and found herself on a table, with a bandage tied onto her side. She looked around, and saw Shadow watching her.

"Sonic, your pet stray is awake." he said to Sonic, who was sitting on the sofa. The blue blur ran up.

"Are you OK? You look tired!" Sonic went to pet the jackal.

"Sonic, I don't think you should-"

"YOW!" Sonic jumped back, nursing his bitten hand. The jackal snarled at him, jumped off the table, and hid in the corner of the room.

Hikari came into the room, and saw the jackal in the corner.

"AWWW! SHE'S SO CUTE!" Hikari went rushing over to pick up the jackal.

"ARF!" the jackal ran past Shadow, and hid behind him.

"The thing must be traumatised…" Shadow said, staring at the jackal. The canine yelped, and hid behind the sofa.

"Do you think we should feed her?" Hikari asked.

"I'm not sure…let me try and calm her down." Shadow slowly walked up to the jackal, and sat down.

"I'm not going to hurt you." he said. He was not expecting the jackal to look at him, and reply,

"That's what they all say…keep away!" the jackal snarled.

"What the hell? It's a talking jackal!" Hikari shouted.

"Well, you're a talking human." the jackal mumbled.

"Fair enough."

"Do you have a name?" Sonic asked.

"It's Tachi. Tachi the jackal…"

"How can you talk? We thought you were a feral jackal." Shadow said. Tachi didn't reply, she just growled.

"We'll leave you alone, then." Shadow walked off. Then he realised something.

"_I have been sensing a Chaos emerald's power for a while, now…"_ he thought. He turned to the jackal, and picked her up.

"HEY!" Tachi tried to bite him, but Shadow held her jaws.

"Chaos Control!" he said. He disappeared, and ended up in Tails' workshop.

"Hi, Shadow! What's up?" Tails greeted him. Shadow held a very angry Tachi out.

"This jackal has Chaos energy, enough to create a Chaos Control."

"I don't know what this Chaos Control is, but you better drop me!" the jackal growled.

"Huh? You don't think she's…"

Shadow stared at Tachi, who glared at him. Her eyes were glowing blue.

"She's eaten a Chaos emerald somehow."

"A Chaos emerald…so that's what it is…I just thought it was a normal shiny." Tachi said slowly.

"We're collecting Chaos emeralds, so you're going to have to give it up."

"How?"

"Well, you could somehow spit it out, or you could have an operation…" Tails trailed off as Tachi's eye twitched.

"HELL NO!" she yowled.

"So, you can spit it back up?"

"I'm not sure…"

At this moment, Akemi came in. Tachi stared at him, and then she started growling and snapping.

"KEEP AWAY FROM ME, ODD EYES!" she snarled.

"OK…I seriously have no idea what you're talking about…"

"YES YOU DO!" Tachi tried to get free, but Shadow held unto her.

"Akemi, I think you should go." he said. Akemi walked out. On his way, he flicked his hair back, revealing his eyes. One was brown, while the other one was blue.

_Dun dun dunnn….Hopefully I won't get shouted at for later plot holes. People who have played Shadow the Hedgehog should know why Akemi having odd eyes is a problem…feel free to come up with your theories! _


	23. Chapter 23: Return of the Mcbaldy!

_Been busy today…but here's a new chapter!_

_Thanks to all the reviewers!_

_Disclaimer: DIGIMON, DIGTAL MONSTERS, DIGIMON ARE THE CHAMPIONS! CHANGE INTO DIGITAL CHAMPIONS, TO SAVE THE DIGITAL…WORLD! DIGIMON, DIGITAL- *_gunshot*

Shadow: Swift doesn't own Digimon, Sonic or me. Just her OCs. 

Chapter 23: Return of the McBaldy!

*Digimon theme song plays, and another gunshot is heard*

Over the next three days, Tachi roamed around the workshop, occasionally nipping hands that were foolish enough to try to pet her. She even bit Shadow on his tail, and he was not happy about it. Tails had to clean up the kitchen, which had been Chaos Blasted to a burnt mess, but at least Tachi was alive. The problem was, Tachi would act like a feral jackal sometimes…

Day 1

Hikari came into the workshop, to find Tachi sitting under a table, and licking her fur.

"Tachi, that's not very hygienic…" she muttered.

"Yes it is. My brother always said, 'clean your fur after eating'."

"And what have you been eating?"

Tachi pointed with her nose to a pile of ripped bloodstained feathers in a neat pile.

"You do know there's food in the fridge…?"

"That food smells bad. I'd rather hunt."

"Great, who's going to clean this…?"

Day 2

Shadow was tipping cat food into a bowl. Sapphire walked in, looking hungry.

"Here's your food, Sapphire." Shadow said, putting the dish on the ground. Sapphire stared at the food, her eye twitching. She looked at Shadow with an expression that said, 'what IS this stuff? I'm not eating it!'

"Eat it, Sapphire." Shadow ordered. Sapphire slid the bowl to the side, and looked at the counter, where there was a dish of pizza.

"Mew…" she mewed, looking hopeful.

"No. That's mine."

Tachi walked in, brushed past Sapphire, and saw the cat food.

"Oh, yum!" she tucked in, while the cat watched, looking puzzled.

"Tachi! That's Sapphire's food!" Shadow shouted. Sapphire watched as the jackal ate all of the food.

"Do you have any more?" Tachi asked. Shadow facepalmed, and walked out.

Day 3

Akemi was sitting outside, listening to his music. Tachi came running up, and dropped a dead rat at his feet. He stopped listening to his music.

"What is that?" he shouted.

"It's a sick rat!" Tachi said, cheerfully.

"Oh yeah? You can have it."

"I brought it for you!"

The rat sneezed, and twitched. Akemi looked disgusted.

"You didn't even kill it properly!" he cried, picking up the rat and placing it onto the field.

"Fine…" Tachi walked over to him, and slowly lifted her hind leg next to his shoes. Akemi snapped.

"DON'T YOU DARE!" he shouted, chasing Tachi around.

Hikari looked out of her window, to see Akemi waving his fist, and chasing Tachi.

"Awww, they're finally playing…" she sighed.

Later that day…

Tachi was chasing a terrified feral rabbit through the forest.

"Come back, dinner!" she yowled. The rabbit quickened its pace, and ran over a patch of grass. Tachi ran across the grass, and a net came flying out of the bushes, trapping her against a tree. She barked in surprise, and some bounty hunters came out of the bushes.

"Finally, we've caught you!" the leader shouted. Tachi snarled, and some orange sparks came off her fur.

"What?" she pondered, looking puzzled.

"It looks like you can't shapeshift!" the hunter grabbed her, and they walked off.

Shadow and Sapphire were in the workshop, playing chess. Sapphire moved her chess piece across.

"Mew!" she mewed happily. Shadow stared.

"I can't believe this…I was beaten by my own pet cat!" he yelled.

"Meow!"

"Rematch! I challenge you to a rematch!" Shadow set up the chess pieces again. Tails came into the room.

"Has anyone seen Tachi?" he asked.

"The last time I saw her, she was running through the door." Shadow said. He turned back to the chessboard to see Sapphire holding one of his chess pieces.

"You took one, didn't you?"

Sapphire mewed, sounding slightly muffled. Tails came over, and stared at her.

"Sapphire can play chess?" he wondered.

"Yes, she can play chess, read books, and type on your computer. She isn't your usual cat." Shadow explained.

"Is that why I came back to my computer, and found a pawprint on the keyboard?"

"Sorry."

Hikari came into the room.

"Guys, Tachi's not here! She must be in the forest!" she said.

"What's wrong with that?" Shadow asked.

"There's bounty hunters after her for some strange reason. She didn't tell me why."

"So we have to go down to the forest to save her sorry pelt?" Shadow sighed. He got up, and they walked out to the forest.

They soon came across a camp, that had been built recently, and the group quickly hid behind a rock.

"So, this is the camp…how are we going to get in?" Hikari whispered.

"Tails will distract them, while we sneak out and get Tachi…if she's there." Shadow whispered back.

"Wait, what am I supposed to distract them with?" Tails asked.

"I don't know, use your imagination." Shadow muttered, shoving Tails into the camp. The hunters saw him, and got rifles out.

"Hey! What are you doing here, fox?" the leader shouted.

"I'm here because I can…break dance!" Tails started break dancing, while all the bounty hunters cheered, as Shadow, Sapphire and Hikari snuck past them. They found Tachi tangled in a net, growling softly.

"This is why you should stay in the house." Hikari said, sternly.

"Fine, I'll stay inside, now let me out of here!" Tachi snapped, struggling. Shadow looked at Sapphire, who unsheathed her claws. The cat cut the net, and Tachi stood up.

"OK, let's go before they-"

"Hey!" they turned to see Tails being held by one of the bounty hunters.

"I know you three! You're Hikari, that runaway girl, and you're Shadow, the hedgehog who's wanted by GUN!" the leader cried.

"What about Sapphire?" Shadow asked.

"She's a cat."

"Mew!" Sapphire mewed in disappointment, because no one had given her a nickname.

"We'll hand you three in, and get the reward!" the hunters ran forward, and the teens braced themselves. Suddenly, there was a whooshing noise, and the sound of evil laughing. Everyone looked up, to see the bald guy with the moustache, sitting in his hovercraft.

"OH HO HO!" Eggman laughed.

"Hey, it's that old guy!" Hikari shouted, pointing. Out of the blue, a very annoyed old man (AKA Gerald) poofed out of nowhere.

"WHO'S CALLING ME OLD? I'M JUST AGED, OK!" the old man shouted.

"Not you, him!" Hikari waved at Eggman.

"IF YOU CALL ME OLD ONE MORE TIME, I'LL WRING YOUR EARS!" the old guy vanished, and Sapphire sweatdropped in embarrassment.

"How random…" Hikari muttered.

"I'm here! For the Chaos emeralds!" Eggman shouted.

"Sorry, we don't have any." Hikari said.

"YES YOU DO! There's a signal coming from that jackal over there!" Eggman pointed at Tachi.

"Oh no! I didn't swallow a Chaos emerald!" Tachi yelped.

"TACHI!" everyone but Shadow, Sapphire and the hunters yelled.

"Oh? So there's a Chaos emerald in you? I'll take it out!" Eggman sent a robot claw to get Tachi, but she back flipped out of the way.

"Leave her alone!" Eggman turned his ship, to see Shadow standing on the ground, in all his epic glory.

"Well, well, well…it looks like you're alive, Shadow! I have plans for you!" Eggman cried, trying to get Shadow with the claw. Shadow dodged out of the way, and Hikari picked Tachi up.

"You have to get out of here, OK?" she said. Tachi was about to jump down, when she was yanked up by the claw.

"OK, spit it up!" Eggman shouted.

"I don't know how to…" Tachi whimpered as the claw squeezed her, then she yelped as it started shaking up and down.

"Hey! Cut that out! We need that jackal alive!" one of the hunters shouted. Eggman just pressed another button, and a laser shot out, grazing the hunter.

"Guys, let's get out of here!" they ran off quickly, dropping Tails, who took cover in the bushes. Shadow summoned a Chaos spear, and hit the claw, which broke in two and released Tachi.

"YOU HAVE MEDDLED FOR THE LAST TIME IN MY PLANS, HEDGEHOG!" Eggman roared, pressing a button. A huge canon shot out from the ship, and started firing lasers at Shadow, who only just managed to jump out of the way.

"Hikari, Sapphire, Tachi, get out of here!" he shouted. They nodded, and ran into the bushes. Sapphire stayed where she was, hissing at Eggman.

"Oh, is this your pet cat? I hope she's got nine lives!" Eggman shot a laser at Sapphire, while Shadow winced. Sapphire just back flipped over the laser, which was a neat trick and a Matrix reference at the same time.

"MRRREOOOW!" she yowled. Shadow slowly turned to Eggman, who was looking slightly scared.

"You're going to pay for that." the hedgehog started glowing red, and Eggman gulped.

A few moments later, Hikari and Tachi were watching in the bushes, as there was a deafening bang, and smoke went up. Eggman's ship went flying, and a purple object fell unto the ground. Shadow picked it up. It was a purple Chaos emerald.

"_It looks like I'm getting closer to unlocking my past…"_ he thought. Hikari rushed out of the bushes, and grabbed the emerald.

"EMERALD GET!" she shouted, lifting it into the air. There was some gagging noises from Tachi in the bushes, and then an awful smell.

"Eeeew…" Hikari cringed, as Shadow took the emerald.

"Don't you want the other one?" he asked.

"No, thanks…"

Later that night, Shadow had two flashbacks.

Shadow's flashback (No.1)

Shadow was standing on the hill, near the tree just outside Westopolis. He sighed as he watched the sun set.

"Is this really the point of my existence?" he thought, closing his eyes.

"Hi, Shadow." a voice said. The hedgehog opened his eyes to see a tall man wearing uniform. The man had odd eyes.

"_How did he creep up on me like that?" _Shadow growled, and got into a fighting position.

"Tell me what you want!" he shouted. The man grinned evilly.

"You don't honestly think we'd let you walk around the city, like you own the place?" he said, signalling to someone behind Shadow. Shadow whipped around, and felt something hit his head. As his sight blurred, he heard the man talking.

"Get the van ready. We're going to Prison Island."

Shadow felt a cloud of despair come upon him.

"_Not that place…"_ he passed out.

Flashback Numbah 2!

Shadow was in a cave, standing over a boy, who was lying on the ground. The boy was wearing an orange hoodie with black trousers, and he had red hair with some large orange fox ears on his head, with white tips. He even had a bushy orange fox tail.

"No…how did you defeat me…" the boy coughed.

"Reimaru, you should just give up. I spent most of my life wanting revenge for the person I loved, and it didn't get me anywhere." Shadow turned to walk away.

"No…I will get you for this…I will get my eighth tail!" Reimaru jumped up, and charged at Shadow, who just punched him in the face. The poor kid fell over, groaning in pain.

"Maybe you'll think next time, before challenging me." Shadow walked off, leaving Reimaru gasping on the ground.

"I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!" the boy shouted after Shadow.

"Good luck with that."

As Shadow walked through the cave, he heard voices, and saw torchlight. He jumped behind a rock, as some GUN soldiers ran past him.

"_Oh no…Reimaru's still there…" _Shadow thought. He decided to leave the cave, knowing if he was caught, he would probably end up like Reimaru.

*End of flashback*

Shadow looked around. He was standing in the dark forest again, and Sanbi was in front of him.

"So…you finally see why you have to break the seals on Master Reimaru." Sanbi said. Shadow nodded.

"Where is he?" he asked. Sanbi looked to the sky.

"There is a storm coming, and you'd better prepare for it. Beware of the enemy who seems to sleep…" Sanbi disappeared.

"That was really freaking helpful, Sanbi!" Shadow shouted.

_Ooh….stuff happens in the next chapter._


	24. Chapter 24: Hikari's past

_A new update! Yay for updating at an unreasonable time in the morning! *ignores funny looks from reviewers and OCs*_

_Epsilon Team Captain Hande: I don't know if you watch a show called Dinosaur King, but I got the Old-_

Gerald: *glare*

_I mean, Incredibly Smart Guy That's Slightly Old But Still Young thing from there. There's a lady called Ursula, and well…she just cracks me up. One of her quotes is, 'I'M NOT OLD! I'VE JUST BEEN SIXTEEN FOR A LONG TIME!' XD, she's funny._

_Disclaimer:*sings very badly* DINOSAUR KING, IS WHAT YOU WANT TO BE YEAH-_

Tachi: Make your move, come on, make your move!

_DINOSAUR KING IS YOUR DESTINY YEAH-_

Tachi: Make your move, come on, make your move!

_If you hold the cards right in your hand, JURASSIC GIANTS AT YOUR COMMAND! _

Gerald: *facepalm* This author is immature. She doesn't own any Sonic characters, just her OCs and her insanity.

_I HEARD THAT. I don't own Dinosaur King lyrics!_

Chapter 24: Hikari's past (_yeah, nothing much happens…it's just some of the plot)_

_*_Theme song plays*

Sapphire was sitting outside, watching the sunset. She mewed sadly.

"_What if Shadow never guesses who I am, and I have to stay like this forever…?_" she thought. She heard someone open the door, and turned her head. Akemi and Hikari were just coming out. Akemi turned to Hikari.

"So…it's been quite a while now, right?" he asked. Hikari sighed.

"I really miss her…"

"We should take some flowers to her tonight…you go ahead, I'll catch you up." Akemi walked back inside. Hikari picked some daffodils that were growing nearby, and started walking away. Sapphire watched in puzzlement.

"_I wonder what's going on…" _she followed Hikari at a distance. Hikari walked all the way to the edge of Westopolis, and went into a graveyard. Sapphire silently walked after her, and found the girl at the end of the graveyard, standing in front of a gravestone.

"Hi, mom… I guess I really should be moving on now…but I just wanted to say hi." Hikari placed the flowers by the gravestone, and stood there silently. Sapphire felt sad for her, and she walked up to Hikari.

"Mew…" she mewed quietly.

"Oh? Sapphire, what are you doing here?" Hikari asked, looking surprised. Sapphire pointed with her tail, towards the gravestone.

"Mew?" she asked.

"It's a pity it's not a full moon night…" Hikari muttered.

"Meow?"

"Yeah, you're probably wondering why I'm here. Let me tell you a story…"

Hikari's flashback

A young Hikari, about 12, was walking through the park, watching a 14 year old Akemi climb a tree. She walked over to him.

"Hey, Akemi, are you sure you can climb that tree?" she asked.

"Steven said it'll prove I'm brave." Akemi climbed unto a branch.

"If Steven said there was candy at the bottom of a lava pit, would you jump in?"

"Shut up, Hikari, I'm trying to concentrate." Akemi reached for another branch, and fell out of the tree. Hikari ran over to him.

"Akemi, are you OK?" she asked. Akemi stood up.

"Ow. Yeah, I'm fine…" he stopped speaking as a group of boys, all 16 or 17 years of age, walked up. Steven was leading them.

"Little dude, you're supposed to be climbing at the back of the tree." he said.

"You're just a whimpering kitten, CAT!" one of the boys shouted. Akemi winced and looked away. Due to his odd eyes, he was always being called names, like 'Odd' or 'Darcia' but lately, the boys had taken to calling him 'cat'.

"I'll prove I'm brave!" he cried.

"How? You couldn't even climb the smallest tree in the park!" the boy laughed. Akemi found himself getting angrier.

"This'll be a laugh…I dare you, to steal a chocolate bar from the sweet shop on the main road!" the boy continued.

"OK, I'll do it!" Akemi shouted. Hikari turned to him with a wide eyed expression.

"But Akemi, the owner…" she trailed off. The owner of the sweet store was not nice at all. There were many rumours she'd beat a boy so badly for daring to steal from her, that the boy had ended up in hospital. Akemi knew this.

"Yeah, I'll do it right now! And I'll steal two!" he said. Steven coughed, and everyone looked at him.

"I like your spirit, Akemi. Want to join our club?" he asked. Akemi seemed mystified by this, until Hikari dragged him away.

"Those boys just want to use you!" she whispered.

"But if I join them, I'll get respect, and everyone won't pick on me."

"Everyone knows Steven is just a cheating prat, who uses his friends to steal stuff for him." Hikari stubbornly said.

"OK, I won't join him…" they walked out of the park in silence.

They arrived at their house, and walked in. A short woman with short brown hair and a grey dress looked up from the book she was reading.

"Hi, kids! Why the long faces?" she asked.

"Steven and his friends keep on badgering Akemi to join their group." Hikari explained, letting go of Akemi's arm.

"You didn't say yes, did you?" the lady asked. Akemi paused, and then replied,

"No…but they seem to be cool…" Akemi jumped as his mom slammed down her book.

"Dear, we had a talk about this! There's good people, who you can trust, and bad people, who try and trick you!" she exclaimed. Akemi looked at the ground.

"Sorry, mom…" he apologised. Dawn (the mum) smiled.

"That's ok. You remind me of your dad, sometimes."

"What was he like?" Akemi asked. Dawn just sighed, and looked into the distance.

Over the next few years, Akemi didn't speak to Steven again. But that soon changed.

It was early summer, in the afternoon. Hikari was racing ahead of Akemi, in the park.

"You can't beat me!" she shouted.

"OK, you win!" Akemi slowed down, and watched as Hikari danced around. Hikari was now 14, and Akemi was 16.

They walked home, only to find the door open.

"I wonder what's going on…" Akemi said. He told Hikari to wait outside, and went into the house. A police officer was there, on the phone. She stopped talking as Akemi came in.

"You're Dawn's son, right?" she asked. Akemi nodded.

"Why are you here?"

"I don't want to tell you this, but…your mother's…gone."

"You mean, gone on holiday?"

"No…she was caught up in a train accident this morning as she went for work…the train crashed, killing 5 other people."

"You don't mean to say…" Akemi stared in silence.

"Sorry, kid. Your mum's not coming back."

Akemi heard a gasp from Hikari, and turned. The girl ran forward and hugged him. Time seemed to be moving slowly, as Akemi dimly heard the officer talking about other relatives.

Hikari sighed as she watched Akemi standing with his back to her. They were in the park, 6 months after the news. Hikari was 15, and Akemi was 17.

"Come on, let's go!" she said. Akemi banged his head against the tree.

"This is hopeless…if I don't get the money to pay the landlord, we'll be kicked out…" he muttered.

"Akemi…" Hikari sighed.

Later that night, back at the house, Akemi walked out. Steven and his gang were waiting for him, outside.

"Let's go." Akemi said. They walked away down the road. The next morning, Hikari was woken up by police sirens. She looked out of the window to see loads of police cars outside. A policeman was banging on the door.

"Open this door now!" he shouted. Hikari watched as Akemi opened the door.

"I see. You're here to arrest me for stealing the money from the bank." he said, calmly putting his hands up.

"Where's the money?" the policeman asked, snapping a pair of handcuffs on Akemi.

"I don't have it."

"You're coming down to the station." the policeman was about to drag Akemi to a car, when Hikari came running out.

"Wait! I'll come too!" she shouted.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

At the police station, Hikari waited outside in the car, until the policeman came back.

"Your brother is going to be doing community service for four months. Apparently, he gave the money to another person. He would of gone to prison, but he got bailed out by someone." he said.

"Can I see him?"

The policeman nodded, and led Hikari inside. Akemi was sitting on a chair, filling out some forms. A woman was sitting next to him, and she turned to Hikari.

"Hi, Hikari. I'm your social worker, and I'm going to be taking you to your uncle." she explained.

"I have an uncle?"

"Yes, you do. He lives up on Snowpoint Mountain."

Hikari looked at Akemi for reassurance, and he nodded.

"I don't mind. You can visit sometimes."

Hikari hugged Akemi and went off with the social worker.

*end of flashback*

"So that's what happened…I started living with Paul after that." Hikari explained to Sapphire. The ghost cat nodded, and turned as Akemi walked up.

"Come on Hikari, let's get out of here." they walked back home. In the morning, at the workshop, Shadow was just sitting down on the sofa with some coffee. Akemi was asleep on the other end. Shadow sipped his coffee, and was about to reach for the TV remote, when Akemi yawned.

"Good morning." he said, opening his eyes. Shadow stared at him. He hadn't realised it before, because Akemi had a long hair fringe, but the teenager had odd eyes.

"What?" Akemi asked.

"You have odd eyes…" Shadow muttered.

"Well, you have red eyes, and you hardly see me complaining, do you?"

Shadow shook his head, and turned the TV on. He couldn't help think about Sanbi's warning.

"_Beware of the enemy who seems to sleep…" _

_Wow. I think I need to work a bit more on sad chapters. And there's potential plot holes…._

Hikari: You think? Honestly, it's just not logical what happens in a few chapters' time!


	25. Chapter 25: Paul returns again!

_Whew…here's a new chapter! There'll be another one, with The Big Plot Hole Of Doom-_

*Dramatic music plays*

_So, hopefully I won't get yelled at by people who have played Shadow The Hedgehog. _

_Darkrose826: Yup, jackals are my favourite animals next to rats, foxes, cats and wolves! That's why Tachi is one of my favourite OCs to write about…_

_Epsilon Team Captain Hande: Oh. That's a pity, they don't have Dinosaur King where you live. If you want to, you can visit Youtube, and they've got all the episodes there (sadly, it's from 4Kids) or you can watch the Japanese version, if they have episodes up. _

_Disclaimer: Oh…don't have the energy to write….you know I don't own Sonic. Just the OCs and the clothes on my back._

Chapter 25: Paul returns (again)!

*theme song plays*

"So, we've got six Chaos emeralds." Hikari said, looking at Tails. The group were having a meeting in the workshop in the late afternoon, except Tachi, who had gone for a hunt.

"Yeah, but where is the last one?" Akemi wondered.

"Can't we just use the Chaos emeralds we have now to track the other one?" Shadow asked.

"We can, but we might as well send you out on the road to search all the buildings in town. We can't track the Chaos emerald until we get close to it." Tails explained.

"Then it's like looking for a needle in a haystack, and we've only been lucky so far." Akemi sighed.

"Well…there is one thing I can try…" Tails muttered.

"What is it?"

"I can go onto the Internet and look for rumours about the location of the Chaos emeralds…"

Right on cue, Sapphire walked in. She had somehow managed to get a pair of blue goggles on her head.

"Shadow, that cat's not normal." Akemi muttered to the hedgehog.

"She's just smart."

"Meow!" Sapphire mewed, walking over to the computer, jumping on the desk and typing at the keyboard.

"She can even type! Is she a bakeneko?" Akemi asked.

"I don't know."

"Mew!" Sapphire nodded at Akemi.

"So, you are a bakeneko…I wonder who you were?" Akemi said.

"This is getting away from the point. We should be looking for that emerald." Shadow muttered.

"Yeah, he's right. We don't want o-l-d guy with orange moustache to get it." Hikari agreed.

"You're talking about Eggman, right? How come you spelled out old?" Tails asked.

"A random ghost guy keeps on appearing in front of me to tell me off…" Hikari whispered.

"Oh…let's not mention o-l-d and guy in the same sentence, then."

"Why can't we say old guy in the same sentence?" Shadow asked. He instantly regretted speaking when the random guy appeared.

"SHADOW! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU, DON'T CALL ME OLD! OR I'LL GROUND YOU FOR A WEEK!" he yelled.

"Sorry, sir." Shadow sweatdropped as the guy vanished.

"Did you just call him sir?" Hikari asked.

"Yeah…it just came out."

"We should search for the emerald when we get time. For now, let's go and get some lunch." Tails said.

After lunch (which was pizza) the group had another meeting in the workshop. Sapphire was still at the computer, typing away.

"Have you found anything?" Tails asked. Sapphire shook her head.

"Maybe Eggman has the last emerald, then…"

"I think it's time for me to go out for a run! Hey, Shadow, do you want to race?" Sonic asked.

"What's the point? I'll beat you anyway, faker."

Sonic grinned, and Sapphire jumped onto Shadow's head.

"Mew!"

"You're coming?"

Sapphire nodded, and Hikari got up.

"I'm coming too. Because someone has to be mature enough to keep an eye on you two." she said. Sapphire stared at her.

"No, I'm not calling you immature, they are."

"What are you talking about? I'm the most mature guy around here!" Sonic cried.

"Actually, that's not true." Tails coughed.

"Oh really?"

"Chilli dog eating competition." Tails said simply.

"That was just for fun!"

"Faker, are we going or not?" Shadow asked.

"Yeah, I'll come." They walked out, closely followed by Hikari.

"Can you even keep up?" Sonic asked.

"I'll try."

Sonic turned to Shadow.

"Let's get this party started!"

WHOOOSH!

Hikari just stared as the blue and black blurs shot off.

"Great. Now I'm going to have to run after them." Hikari ran after them, at a really slow speed.

Meanwhile, back with the hedgehogs, Sapphire was doing her best to stay on Shadow's head. She finally just gave up.

"MEW!" she mewed loudly. Shadow slowed down.

"OK, I'll carry you." he picked up Sapphire, and chased after Sonic, who had slowed down to look at something.

"Shadow, look!" Sonic pointed at Tachi, who was lying against a rock.

"Tachi, what happened?" Shadow asked, checking to see if the jackal was fine.

"Big group…dark haired person…" Tachi fainted.

"Who would want to attack Tachi?" Shadow wondered. Then he saw a metal dart in Tachi's shoulder, and he realised what was going on.

"Come on, Sonic! Let's get out of here!" Shadow turned around to hear a whistling noise, and then a dart hit him. He collapsed onto the ground.

"Shads! Are you OK?" Sonic asked.

"Just take Sapphire and Tachi, and get out of here!" Shadow yelled. Sonic picked up Tachi, and Sapphire jumped on his head. As the hedgehog was about to go, he saw Paul and a huge group of GUN soldiers. Paul came over, and took Tachi out of Sonic's arms.

"Hold that for me." he said, giving Tachi to a soldier.

"What do you want?" Sonic asked.

"I'm here to arrest Shadow, and get the Chaos emeralds."

"But we haven't-"

"I'm getting tired of this conversation." Paul stood aside as a soldier came forward, and shot a dart at Sonic. The blue hedgehog fainted, and Sapphire hissed. She turned to Paul, who was pointing a gun at her.

"You remember I said I didn't like cats?"

Sapphire flattened her ears.

As Hikari was just catching up, she stopped to take a breath. Then she heard a loud bang.

"_I wonder what that was…"_ Hikari thought. She ran towards the noise, and then gasped as she saw Paul and the soldiers.

"Paul!" she shouted.

"Hi, Hikari. It looks like you haven't got your frying pan." Paul said.

"What did you do with Sonic and Shadow?"

"Oh, Sonic's OK. It's Shadow you should be worried about." Paul pointed his gun at Shadow, who was lying on the ground.

"Go and get the Chaos emeralds, and come back here. Don't bring anyone else, or Shadow will end up like his cat."

"What did you do to Sapphire?"

Paul pointed at Sapphire, who was on the ground, not moving.

"You shot her?" Hikari yelled.

"I don't like cats. Especially freaky ghost cats."

"You know Sapphire's a ghost cat?"

"But of course. What kind of normal cat can control fire? Now, you'd better go and get those Chaos emeralds."

Hikari nodded, and ran back to the workshop. As she got inside, Akemi, who was sitting on the sofa, looked up.

"Hikari! Where's Sonic and Shadow?" Akemi asked. Hikari grabbed her bag, which had the Chaos emeralds.

"Paul's back…he wants the Chaos emeralds, or he'll shoot Shadow."

"Paul? I'll come with you!" Akemi got up.

"He said not to bring anyone else…"

"You honestly don't think I'll let you go back there by yourself?"

"Fine…" they ran out, and went back to Paul.

"So, you've got the Chaos emeralds?" he asked. Hikari nodded, and then Paul saw Akemi.

"I thought I told you not to bring anyone else. But Akemi's fine…"

"I'll give you the Chaos emeralds, but you can't shoot Shadow, ok?"

Hikari gave Paul her bag, and he put his gun away.

"Right, you two are coming with us."

Hikari nodded, and followed Paul with Akemi. Paul led them to a van that was parked on the road.

"Where are we going?" Akemi asked.

"You'll see. Now, get in the van!" the teens got into the van. Paul carried Shadow and Tachi inside, then shut the door and walked off.

"Sir…what about us?" a soldier asked.

"Do I look like I care? Walk or get a bus or something!" Paul got into the van, and drove off, leaving a group of puzzled soldiers.

"Does anyone have any money to get the bus?" one asked.

"Paul's really mean…I think we should just go to the cinema, and not come back." another one said. They started walking down the road.

Back at the Mystic Ruins, Sapphire got up slowly. She yawned.

"_I'll never get used to this idea of having nine lives…or that would be eight lives now."_ she thought. She looked around, and saw Shadow wasn't there.

"_They must have taken him! I need to go and get some help!" _Sapphire set off at a dash to the workshop.

A few hours later, back with Akemi, Hikari, Shadow and Tachi, they were finally at the GUN base. Paul led them in.

"I think it's time you met Samuel." he said.

_Gee, I wonder who Samuel is? _

_Note: I feel bad for giving Sapphire/Maria that déjà vu thing…at least she has nine-no, that'll be eight lives now._

Shadow: So, YOU'RE the author who allowed this! *summons Chaos Spear*

_Oh crap. *Runs away*_


	26. Chapter 26: Truth revealed!

_Now, it's time for that all important plot twist (or plot hole)_

*Complaints from OCs*

Reimaru: This is highly irrelevant!

Akemi: Yeah! What he said!

Hikari: I don't like this!

Tachi: Can I have a cookie?

_Guys…I just thought it would be an epic plot twist. It looks like it might have backfired on me._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Samuel, he belongs to SEGA, and so do the other Sonic characters…I do own the OCs._

Chapter 26: Truth revealed!

*theme song plays* (_For people who notice the theme song comes and goes-sometimes, I forget to type it in. But hey, it is just a theme song…)_

Paul stopped just outside a door. There was a note on the door that said,

"I'm having my coffee break right now. If you knock, I will be VERY annoyed and will most likely get my machine gun out, and blow your freaking head off.

Thanks for the consideration-Commander"

Hikari stared at the note.

"Are you sure we can go in there? The guy who wrote this doesn't sound very safe…" she muttered.

"Yeah, I think I want to live a bit longer…" Akemi said.

"Oh, he's a great guy. Just follow these rules when you go in." Paul read some rules out.

'Do not call him a coffee addict.

Do not mention he has odd eyes.

DON'T EVER TOUCH HIS COFFEE.'

"And…you say he's nice?" Hikari asked.

"Well, he's grumpy sometimes, and he likes to keep his machine gun out on the desk."

Tachi whimpered, and Shadow looked down.

"Tachi, we'll get out of here." he said.

"OK, let's go in." Paul knocked on the door, and then stepped out of the way. There was angry shouting and swearing, and the door flew open.

"JUST GET INSIDE!" a voice shouted.

"We're coming in."

Paul led the group in. There was a tall man looking out of the window.

"How many times do I have to say this Paul? DON'T INTERRUPT ME WHEN I'M HAVING MY COFFEE BREAK!" the man yelled. Paul sweatdropped.

"Sorry, sir… but I've got some guests."

The man turned around. He had odd eyes, grey hair and was wearing a uniform. Hikari turned slowly to Akemi, who was staring.

"He's got odd eyes!" she whispered.

"I know…" Akemi muttered. They heard growling and snarling, and turned to see Shadow and Tachi glaring at the man.

"I haven't seen you for a while, Shadow…I heard you died." The man said, glaring back.

"Just who are you?" Shadow growled.

"It looks like you lost your memory as well…for your information, I'm Commander Samuel…" Samuel said.

"Can we call you Sammy?" Hikari asked randomly. There was a long, awkward silence.

"No." Samuel finally said.

"So, what do you want with us?" Shadow asked.

"You'll see. Paul, take them down to the prison cell. I have to speak with Hikari and Akemi."

Paul nodded, and dragged Tachi and Shadow out.

"How do you know our names?" Hikari wondered.

"Can't you guess? Look at Akemi."

Hikari looked at Akemi. Akemi had grey hair as well, but it was longer. Then she finally understood.

"Sweet, holy mackerel…we're related, aren't we…?" she said.

"Yes…"

"I know who you are." Akemi mumbled.

"Go on, then."

"You're our missing dad…"

Hikari's eyes widened.

"NO WAY! THAT CAN'T BE IT!" she shouted.

"It's true…I left your mum because I didn't want you two to be mixed up in my job. Now it seems you've been dragged in by that cursed hedgehog…" Samuel clenched his fist.

"Shadow's been nice to us from the beginning! You, on the other hand, have been sending Paul after us!"

"You can't trust Shadow. He's dangerous, and he should have been kept in cold storage."

"Wait…what are you going to do to him and Tachi?" Hikari asked, looking worried. Samuel grinned.

"We're going to extract their DNA, and then…Shadow can go back to his machine. As for Tachi, she's actually a genetically engineered jackal, who's wanted by a research company, so she'll get sent back there." Samuel explained.

"What about us?" Akemi asked warily.

"I can't trust you to not run back to your friends and make plans, so you two are staying here for a week or two."

"But our friends will be worried about us…"

"Too bad."

Paul came back in.

"I'll take you two to your new rooms now." he said. They were led off to a room just down the corridor. Hikari opened the door, and saw it was a bedroom.

"At least it's not bad in here." she thought. Paul pushed them in, and locked the door.

"So…our dad is actually alive, Shadow and Tachi have been taken, and there's no way out of here…" Hikari sighed.

"We'll think of something in the morning…" Akemi said. Hikari nodded.

At night, there was a beautiful full moon in the sky. Hikari was in her bed, dreaming, when she felt herself being shaken. She yawned, woke up and found herself looking into blue eyes.

"Hi, Hikari!" Maria said, waving.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! GHOST GIRL!" Hikari shouted, waking up Akemi.

"FOR AMATERASU'S SAKE, HIKARI! SHUT UP!" Akemi roared. Then he saw Maria.

"What's that girl doing here? Don't tell me we have a little sister now…"

"Hikari! Shush!"

Hikari quieted down.

"Holy Chaos…Maria, you really need to stop appearing so randomly. I mean, this is a locked room!"

"Not any more, it isn't!" Maria held up some keys.

"There's soldiers patrolling everywhere."

"No, there isn't! At least, not in this part of the building."

Hikari got up. Akemi was looking on, with a puzzled look on his face.

"Isn't anyone going to explain to me why there's a random girl here?" he asked.

"We'll explain on the way! Right now, we need to save Shadow and Tachi!"

"We can't…." Maria said slowly.

"Why?" Hikari asked.

"The security in that part of the building is so tight, I won't be able to use any of my powers to get in there. We need to get some help."

"OK….let's go then." they walked out, and saw the corridor was deserted.

"There's no one here…Maria, what did you do?" Hikari asked. There was the sound of footsteps around the corner, and a lone soldier came into sight.

"You kids-" he stopped speaking as he saw Maria, and he turned pale.

"RAHHHHH! GHOST!" he ran away, screaming.

"Yeah…um…here's what happened…"

Maria's flashback

Some GUN soldiers were gathered around some torches, in the corridor. One of them had just apparently finished telling a story.

"….And to this day, she's said to stalk the recruits, searching for the unlucky guy who ended her life….that's why the guy was found dead in a locked room…" he whispered spookily.

"I don't believe this!" another soldier muttered.

"Then don't blame me when Maria haunts your dreams…"

Right on cue, there was a sound of a ghost wailing.

"What's that noise…?"

"I don't know…"

"WOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH!" the voice wailed.

"You don't think it's….her?" a soldier asked, looking nervous.

"Nah, it's just a story."

"WOOOOOOH! It's not a story! I'm actually right here!" The soldiers slowly turned to see Maria waving at them.

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! SHE'LL TAKE YOUR SOULS!" a guy shouted. They ran away, screaming like girls. Maria sweatdropped.

"I was only joking…" she muttered.

*End of flashback*

"That must've been scary…" Hikari muttered.

They were now walking down the road out of Westopolis.

"Yeah, but I honestly was joking…" Maria said.

_So, there's the plot hole._

Samuel: HOW CAN I HAVE KIDS! I'M FREAKING OLDER THAN SH-

_SHUT UP! Everyone doesn't have to know that!_

Samuel: AND WHY IS MY NAME SAMUEL?

_Because I don't know your real name (they never say in the Shadow the Hedgehog game) and if I hadn't named you anything, you would have been stuck with the name of Commander. So shut up and be grateful, or I'll make another plot hole happen, like you happen to be Shadow's brother or something like that._

Samuel: *shudders* You wouldn't, would you?

Shadow: That's just…*shakes head*

_Well, I have some chores to do, but I'll be back! _


	27. Chapter 27: Releasing the kyuubi

_It's coming close to the last chapter! I've been busy typing the sequel today…_

_Epsilon Team Captain Hande- Wow, what zombie soundtrack was it?_

_Darkrose826: Erm…Well, technically Shadow is safe and sound…*Cough, suspended animation, cough*_

_JinxannaRose- I was actually eating cookies while typing these chapters. That explains the randomness!_

_Disclaimer: Oh, fish sticks! I don't own any Sonic characters, just my OCs. _

Chapter 27: Releasing the kyuubi

*theme song plays*

Shadow was pacing around in a prison cell, while Tachi was watching him from the corner.

"We can't get out of here…we'll be caught straight away…" he muttered.

"Are there any small spaces underneath the door?" Tachi asked. Shadow looked at the door. It was made out of metal, and there was a small sliding door underneath.

"No, there isn't."

"That's bad…I could have shapeshifted into my rat form, and stolen the keys."

"You're a shapeshifter?" Shadow looked puzzled.

"Yeah! This jackal I am right now used to be my true form, but…" Tachi trailed off, looking into space.

"But what?"

Tachi ignored him, and continued speaking.

"But I'm actually a jackal furry now. I just like being a normal jackal." she explained.

"Can you show me how you shapeshift?"

Tachi nodded, and got up. She jumped, did a forward flip with some impressive yellow sparks coming off her fur, and turned into a jackal furry with a white top, denim skirt and knee high boots.

"It feels weird to be walking on two legs…" Tachi muttered. There was the sound of footsteps, and the small hole on the door slid open. Two plates, one with what looked like dry dog food, and the other, a slice of pizza, was pushed into the cell, along with a jug of water. The hole snapped shut, and the footsteps went away.

"Those guys are nice. Instead of giving us dry bread or nothing at all, they've actually came up with something nice." Tachi said, bounding over.

"I don't know if we should eat these…it seems a bit fishy they went to all this trouble." Shadow muttered, looking at the pizza.

"I've sniffed both of them, and I can safely say there are no drugs or poison." Tachi barked, sounding confident. She took the dish of dog food, got down on all fours and started eating.

"Don't you find that awkward, eating like that in that form?" Shadow asked. Tachi turned back into a normal jackal.

"This stuff tastes good!" she said, her mouth full.

"_There has to be some downside to eating this food…"_ Shadow thought, carefully looking at the pizza. His stomach growled loudly, and he sighed.

"I might as well try it." he muttered. As he was about to take a bite, he heard a faint voice.

"_Don't eat that…_." the voice echoed, sounding far away.

"Huh? Who are you?" Shadow asked. Tachi looked up.

"Don 't you think it's too early to be talking to yourself?" she asked. Shadow ignored her.

"_It looks like she can't hear the voice." _He thought.

"_Correct…I can only speak to you._" the voice said again. This time, Shadow realised he was hearing it in his mind.

"What are you?" he wondered.

"_You know me…I'm the fox you defeated…_"

"Reimaru?"

"_Correct again, little hedgehog…I am trapped in between life and death at this moment, due to the demon seals that are imprisoning me…_" Reimaru explained.

"Wait, is Sanbi one of your tails?"

"_Yes. But he cannot come back here, or he'll be trapped with my other tails…_"

"That's weird. Having a tail that can talk."

Shadow heard some laughing from Reimaru.

"What?" he thought angrily.

"_You've truly lost your memory, haven't you? Now, listen to me. You don't have to worry about the solar eclipse anymore, you just need to destroy my seals if you escape_." Reimaru said.

"How am I going to find you?" Shadow wondered.

"_I'll lead you when the time comes. In the meantime, don't let Tachi eat your pizza_-"

Shadow looked down, and saw Tachi finishing off his pizza.

"Too late, she's already finished it."

"_Bugger. Oh well. Farewell…._" Reimaru's voice faded. Shadow turned to Tachi, who was licking her muzzle.

"You know I was hungry, right?" he asked.

"It looked like you were spacing out again, so I thought, you couldn't possibly want it." Tachi yawned.

"We'd better get some rest now…" Shadow said. Tachi nodded.

"I'll watch to see if anyone comes in." she sat down, facing the door. Shadow curled up on the floor, and went to sleep.

He was woken up by some quiet voices.

"So, this is the jackal? I'll take her first, it looks like she won't cause much trouble."

"Wouldn't it be better to take the hedgehog too?"

"Yeah, you're right."

Shadow felt hands grab him, and he jumped up. Lucas was there in the cell, along with a soldier.

"Get out! He's awake!" Lucas called. They ran out, and locked the door.

"Dang it…I had a chance to escape…" Shadow muttered. He looked around, and saw Tachi wasn't in the cell.

"They must've taken her…" he thought.

A few hours later, Lucas walked into the cell again, carrying Tachi. He dropped her on the floor, as Shadow watched in shock.

"What did you do to her?" he asked.

"We just took some of her DNA, that's all. You're next, by the way, so we'll come back in an hour." Lucas replied. Shadow growled, and summoned a Chaos spear. Lucas quickly closed the door.

"Tachi, are you ok?" Shadow asked, shaking the jackal. Tachi just groaned, and Shadow spotted a bandage tied on her front leg. He undid it, and saw a small mark.

"That looks painful…I really have to get out of here." he thought. He tied the bandage on and thought for a while, because he didn't want to end up like Tachi. Something hit his back, and he half turned around. Lucas was standing in the doorway, pointing a dart gun at him.

"Sorry, hedgehog…" he said. Shadow passed out.

"_You really aren't that observant, are you?_" Reimaru's voice sounded in his head.

"He crept up on me!" Shadow growled in his thoughts.

"_Whatever. Now, listen to me, little hedgehog…you're close to being sealed away, like me. This is your last chance of escape, so you'd better use it_."

"Sealed away? How?"

"_Do the words, 'cold storage' mean anything to you?_" Reimaru asked. Shadow thought for a while.

"When you say it, I get a bad feeling." he thought.

"_Good. My cell is the third one you see down the corridor. Now, wake up!_"

Shadow opened his eyes. Tachi was still asleep, and there was a bandage tied on his arm as well.

"Isn't that great…." he thought, wincing as it started to hurt.

"Shadow! You're getting off the point!" Reimaru snapped.

The dark hedgehog got up quickly. Then an idea came to him. He smirked, and then lay on the ground.

"AAAAHHHH! OWWWWWW!" he yelled. There was the sound of running footsteps, and Lucas and some soldiers opened the door. Lucas ran over.

"He must be suffering from side effects of the DNA extraction. Let me see…" Lucas took Shadow's arm, and poked it. Shadow pretended to growl in pain.

"We'd better go to my lab now…if he dies on my watch, Samuel will come after me with his machine gun…" Lucas muttered. He picked Shadow up, and the group walked out.

"_Clever plan, little hedgehog…_" Reimaru's voice sounded. Shadow grinned, and started glowing red.

"CHAOS BLAST!" he shouted. There was a loud explosion, and some smoke filled the air. When it cleared, Lucas and all of the soldiers were knocked out.

"Idiots." Shadow muttered, standing up. Tachi came out of the cell.

"What was in that food?" she asked, yawning.

"Come on, Tachi. We're getting out of here." Shadow said. They ran down the corridor, and stopped at a door.

"You go on. I have to sort something out." Shadow said. Tachi nodded, and ran ahead. Shadow opened the door, and walked inside. He blinked in surprise as he saw a boy with fox ears and seven fox tails chained to the wall by his hands.

"Reimaru?" Shadow asked, stepping forward. The boy didn't move, but Shadow heard Reimaru's voice again.

"_Yes, that's me. I know I look like a sorry sight, but it'll be nice if you could snap the seals on my tails off_."

Shadow looked closely, and saw black bands on Reimaru's tails. He broke them all, and stepped back.

"_Ah…that's a relief_." Reimaru said in Shadow's mind.

"You're not moving."

"_You only just snapped those seals off. They've been on me for three years_." Reimaru explained.

"How are you still alive, then?"

"_Because Sanbi wasn't sealed. You should get going. Don't worry about me._"

Shadow nodded and ran out. He slowed down as he saw a patrol of soldiers approaching, and ran into another room and shut the door. He looked around, and saw what looked like a glass box, with wires coming out of it. He walked forward, and saw a grey glow. A silver Chaos emerald was on top of the machine. Shadow grinned, and grabbed it. Then he was attacked from behind.

"What the hell?" he shouted, struggling as he was picked up, and dropped into the glass box. He looked up to see Samuel grinning away.

"I think I'll take that." he said, taking the emerald from Shadow.

"Let me out of here!" Shadow shouted. Samuel just put the emerald back where it was, and snapped some restraints on Shadow.

"You really did lose your memory, didn't you? Otherwise, you'd have been really fighting by now." Samuel stepped back, and slammed the lid down. He listened to Shadow swearing, and then it went quiet.

"Serves you right." he muttered, walking out.

_Oh dear…it seems Shadow's in trouble._

Shadow *death glare*: And it's your fault.

_Hey, don't shoot the author! *gunshot*_

_Ow…erm…I'll go and hide from the reviewers now. I really don't want to find out what you meant by, 'Or ELSE', Darkrose826…. *hides in huge cardboard box*_


	28. Chapter 28: Maria the Pokemon trainer!

_It's nearly time for the epic showdown…Thanks to all the reviewers! (I'm not fearing for my life any more…*jumps out of cardboard box*) Lucy, you're welcome to have a Kuro plushie, and that box of cookies. So every reviewer gets cookies! I don't know why, but I just LOVE updating stories at the crack of dawn (when I was typing this, it was 12:21)_

_In other news: You reviewers should check out Lucy Labrador's story, 'Hedgehogs go to Taskers.' to find it, just go to my profile and it's in my favourites…though you might want to read 'Sonic goes to Taskers' in order to understand it. It's up to you…You'll get a free limited edition Reimaru plushie if you do!  
><em>

_Disclaimer: Oh, sod off! _

Tachi: Swift doesn't own any Sonic or Pokemon characters, or the Nom Nom Nom song! Just me and her OCs!

Chapter 28: Maria the Pokemon trainer?

*theme song plays*

It was in the early afternoon. Hikari, Akemi and Maria were just walking through the forest at the Mystic Ruins.

"Hey, can I ask you something, Maria?" Hikari asked.

"Sure, go ahead."

"How come you're not a cat anymore?"

"I don't know…maybe Reimaru decided to change me back…"

"I still find this thing incredibly weird. I mean, dead people and bakeneko…?" Akemi just shook his head.

"I hope Shadow's OK…we should hurry up." Hikari said. They rushed to the workshop, and found Tails, Sonic, Brook and Strike inside.

"Guys! You're back!" Tails greeted them. Hikari turned to Maria.

"Did you speak to them?" she asked. Maria nodded.

"They were a bit, well, scared of me at first, but they calmed down." she explained.

Maria's flashback

Sonic was eating a chilli dog, while Tails paced back and forth.

"We have to save them, but how? That GUN base is bound to be full of security…" Tails muttered

"Tails, stop your worrying. I'm sure they're fine." Sonic said, swallowing a chilli dog. Then something happened.

Maria walked through the door.

"Tails, I'll go and rescue them." she said. Tails looked up.

"Who are you supposed to be?" he asked.

"Erm, that's kind of hard to explain-"

"ZOMG, THAT'S…." Sonic shouted, zooming away. Tails just stared after him.

"OK…" he turned back to Maria, who was looking slightly puzzled.

"Hang on a minute…" Tails stared hard. Then he distantly remembered Shadow describing Maria.

"AHHHHHHH! GHOST! SOMEONE CALL GHOSTBUSTERS!" Tails ran off, screaming, while Maria just facepalmed.

"I really dislike being a bakeneko…" she said.

Tails and Sonic hid under a table.

"Do you think she's like the Tails Doll?" Sonic whispered.

"Maybe…or maybe she's here for revenge…" Tails whispered back. They jumped and hit their heads on the table as Maria came over.

"I'm not a ghost, and I'm not after any souls or anything like that!" she shouted. Sonic peered cautiously over the table.

"You came to haunt Shadow, right? He's not here!" he said.

"I know that!"

-One long boring explanation later-

"Wow, that's amazing." Tails said.

"So…I need you to help me rescue Hikari, Akemi, Tachi and Shadow from the base."

"Are you sure you're not here to haunt the living?"

"Sigh…"

*End of flashback*

"So, after that, Sonic managed to get Brook and Strike to come!" Tails said.

"OK… what's the plan?" Akemi asked.

"I'm going to hack into the security system!" Maria announced.

"Can you even do that?"

"Do not doubt my skills!"

Everyone watched (except for Brook, who was staring at the wall) as Maria sat at the computer, and started typing like mad.

"What if they trace it back to here?" Hikari asked.

"They won't, I'll make sure of that!"

Meanwhile, Samuel was on his computer at the base.

"I wonder what's on the internet?" he thought. After a few seconds of clicking around, an annoying song started.

"Nom nom nom nom, nom nom nom, nom!"

"Arrrrgh! Not this song!" Samuel tried to click out of the song, but his computer froze. Then images of cute kittens playing appeared on his screen.

"WHO WOULD DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS?"

At Tails' workshop, everyone was watching Maria with a wide-eyed expression.

"What? At least I got the alarms down in the base." she said, shrugging.

"You just forced a guy to listen to the Nom song, and watch kittens at the same time…" Akemi just shook his head.

"It's cute…"

"So, what do we do now?" Hikari asked Tails.

"We'll go to the base, split into two groups and get the Chaos emeralds back!"

So, everyone went to the GUN base.

"Are you sure they won't shoot at us?" Hikari wondered, peering over the wall. She could see searchlights, and soldiers patrolling around.

"We should cause a distraction." Akemi muttered.

"Or we could just storm in there! CHARGE!" Hikari somehow managed to climb the wall, and charged into the yard, waving her frying pan.

"What's that kid doing here?"

"After her!"

The other people climbed over the wall, and found Hikari running around, being chased by the soldiers.

"Do you think we should help her?" Akemi asked Tails.

"She is causing a distraction…"

"Hey! Psst! Over here!" a voice called. They looked to see Tachi in her jackal furry form, beckoning to them from a door. They tiptoed over.

"You managed to escape? Where's Shadow?" Akemi asked, ignoring Hikari's yelling in the background.

"I'm not sure…he told me to get out of here, so I went…" Tachi frowned.

"I guess we'll find him soon."

"AIIIIE! OUT OF THE WAY!" Hikari yelled. She ran past them, into the building. They chased after her, and locked the soldiers out.

"That's part one of the plan! Now we need the Chaos emeralds, and Shadow, then we're out of here!" Hikari said happily.

"We'll split up now. Sonic, Brook and Strike are with me. The rest can go and find Shadow. We'll meet back here!" Tails said. They ran off.

"So…where do we start looking?" Hikari asked Tachi.

"I can take you to where I last saw Shadow." Tachi said.

"There's a tiny problem…" Maria muttered. They looked at her.

"According to the security plans I found, the alarms can only be turned off for 20 minutes. Once it's past the time limit, this part of the building will be locked, and there'll be no way out." she explained.

"I'm sure we can find Shadow in 20 minutes. Lead the way, Tachi!" Hikari shouted. Tachi ran off, and they followed her. They soon came to a huge metal door.

"The cells are on the other side of this door, but we need to open it." Tachi said.

"How did you get past it, then?" Akemi wondered.

"I waited for a patrol to past. They should be coming right…now!"

The door slid open, and Lucas walked up to them with some more soldiers.

"Is this what the commotion is? A group of kids?" he sighed.

"I'm not a kid, I'm 17!" Akemi cried.

"I could care less. Get them." Lucas waved his arm not really that enthusiastic about the situation, and the soldiers ran forward.

"It's frying pan time!" Hikari shouted, waving her frying pan.

"Wait! We can be diplomatic about this!"

Everyone turned to Maria, who had spoke.

"We don't need to be fighting! We should settle this with a friendly game of rock-paper-scissors!" she said.

"I have a better idea." Lucas took out two DS lites randomly. He switched one on, and gave the other one to Maria.

"I CHALLENGE YOU TO A POKEMON BATTLE!" Lucas shouted. Maria turned to Hikari.

"What's Pokemon?" she asked.

"It's a game with these things called Pocket Monsters, and they fight each other." Hikari replied.

"That sounds awful…"

"It's not real!"

"Oh." Maria turned back to Lucas.

"I accept your challenge!" she shouted back. The champion rival music from Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen began to play out of nowhere, and Akemi looked around.

"Where is that music coming from?" he wondered.

"From the DS Lites." Hikari said.

(Now, the pokemon battle!)

Lucas challenged Maria to a battle!

Lucas sent out Charizard!

Maria sent out Torchic!

Lucas: You're hoping to beat me with that thing?

Torchic used Flamethrower!

It's a one hit KO! Charizard fainted!

Lucas sent out Jolteon!

Jolteon used thunderbolt, and Torchic fainted!

Maria sent out Delcatty!

Lucas: What a joke…

Delcatty used Faint Attack!

Jolteon fainted!

Lucas: THAT'S IT!

Lucas sent out Rayquaza!

Maria called Delcatty back, and sent out Arceus!

Lucas: O_O

Maria: This is quite fun! ^^

Arceus used Judgement!

Rayquaza fainted!

(Back to the story)

"You're supposed to be a new trainer!" Lucas shouted, freaking out.

"Well, we beat you, so we'll be on our way." Maria was about to start walking off, when all the GUN soldiers whipped out DS Lites.

"GO, MIGHTYENA AND HOUNDOOM!" they shouted.

-A few minutes later-

"NOOOO! OUR POKEMON!" the GUN soldiers yelled, crying over their pokemon.

"We'll be back!" Lucas shouted. They ran off, as Hikari sweatdropped.

"That was kind of random…" she muttered.

"It looks like he forgot his DS…I'll have it." Maria said. They walked through the door, and Tachi stopped in front of the first cell.

"This is the room I saw him go into…after that, Samuel went in there, and walked out laughing evilly." Tachi barked.

"Let's try it."

Hikari opened the door, and they walked in. They saw the glass box, and went over.

"Shadow!" Maria shouted, seeing the hedgehog in it.

"It looks like you need a password to get him out…" Akemi said, pointing at a keyboard.

"The password….it's probably Maria. It always is." Maria said. Akemi typed that in.

"No, it's not."

"OK…he must have changed it…"

"What about…Cookie? Or Machine gun?" Hikari suggested. Akemi typed that in.

"Nope."

"What could it be…" Hikari thought about Samuel. Then she realised.

"Guys, he's addicted to coffee! Try coffee!" she shouted. Akemi tried it.

"Not a chance."

"Sigh…"

Then Tachi started talking.

"I heard a soldier say Samuel's favourite pokemon was a Glameow."

Akemi typed it in, and the keyboard beeped.

"Yeah, it's correct."

The lid on the box opened, and Shadow groaned.

"That wasn't a pleasant experience." he mumbled.

"SHADOW! YOU'RE OK!" Maria yelled. She took the restraints off him, picked him up and started hugging him.

"Maria? What are you doing here? Is this a trick? I thought you were…" Shadow trailed off, as Hikari looked at him with a shocked expression.

"You got your memory back, didn't you?" she said. Shadow nodded.

"And it was all thanks to Samuel..."

"We should get out of here." Akemi said. They turned to walk back out, but Sonic, Tails and a frightened Strike carrying Brook on his back ran in.

"Guys, Samuel and Paul are very, very annoyed now." Tails panted.

"What, they're coming after you?"

Tails jumped as Paul and Samuel ran in. Paul was carrying a missile launcher, while Samuel just had his machine gun.

"You kids! You're all arrested!" Samuel shouted. Then he saw Shadow.

"YOU! I'll shoot you!" Samuel pointed his gun at Shadow, and was about to shoot, when there was a loud howling and some screaming.

"What was that?" Paul asked.

"This is why we all need to get out of here…" Shadow stopped speaking as the wall broke down, revealing a huge orange fox with black stripes, sharp claws and seven tails with red tips.

"How I've waited for this day!" the fox shouted. He saw everyone standing there with O_O expressions on their faces, and laughed.

"YOU SHALL ALL DIE!" he cackled, bounding forward.

_Looks like someone's not happy…well, I hope everyone's happy that Shadow's OK. Remember-Check out Lucy's stories, and PLEASE review on them!_


	29. Chapter 29: The final showdown!

_THIS IS THE ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN! YAY! Sorry for taking long to update…chores and typing kept me back, and I was recently scarred for life by a vid on Youtube (cough, Shadow the Hedgehog game, scene taken out, because it was too bad to be shown, cough) yeah…I think I am still scarred from that. *curls up in corner* Maria….ahem. Please check out Lucy Labrador's story 'Hedgehogs go to Taskers' and give her a review!_

_Darkrose826: Hmmm…it would be my first time accepting other people's OCs…I can try, or you can have a shout out in the sequel. Send your OC to my inbox, and I'll see what I can do!_

_Yamato Kazuki: Thanks for your review! You get a Tachi plushie that says, 'Must find SHINIES!'_

_Epsilon Team Captain Hande: Thanks for reviewing Lucy's story! You get that limited edition Reimaru plushie!_

_Disclaimer: Oh come on, allow it…it's the last chapter…sigh, I do not own any Sonic characters, just my OCs._

Chapter 29: The final showdown!

*theme song plays*

The fox swung his head, and let out a bellowing roar.

"Don't worry, I'll send all of you to the spirit world quickly…with the exception of Shadow and Maria, of course." he said. Samuel turned to look at everyone.

"Who let the demon fox out?" he asked, looking cross.

"I did." Shadow owned up.

"Thanks a lot Shadow. You've just doomed us to a horrible, and most likely painful death." Samuel muttered.

"It's your own fault. YOU trapped him here."

"It was for the good of the world."

"Oh, is that why Maria was shot by YOUR soldiers?" Shadow shot an angry death glare at the Commander.

"You and I both know that you were responsible for her death." Samuel stared back. Hikari turned to Maria, who was facepalming.

"Do you know anything about this?" Hikari asked.

"Yeah…I'll explain it later. But now, we have to stop Reimaru from attacking us!" Maria said.

"What makes you think you can stop me?" Reimaru growled, looking amused.

"Because we have logic, reason and teamwork!" Maria shouted. Everyone in the room sweatdropped.

"All she had to say was, 'Let's show this creep the real super power of TEAMWORK!'" Tails muttered.

"HEY! That's one of my favourite lines!" Sonic grumbled.

"How did you come back anyway? I missed you…" Samuel said, not noticing a jealous Shadow sending death glares of doom at him.

"I'll explain later. For now, let's show this fox the real-"

"NO! DON'T DO IT MARIA!" Akemi, Tails, Tachi and Shadow yelled. Even Reimaru was covering his ears.

"Sorry…"

"Shadow, why don't you tell them of what happened when we met?" Reimaru asked. Shadow sighed, and told his tale.

Shadow's flashback

"I travelled to Snowpoint with Sonic, because we'd heard rumours of a demon fox threatening the villagers there. When we got to a nearby village up on the mountain, Reimaru asked me to join him. He said he could bring Maria back. So I fought Sonic, and left for Reimaru's cave…"

Shadow was in a large underground cave, looking around.

"Reimaru! I know you're there!" he shouted.

There was a flash, and Shadow found himself looking at a young teenage boy. He had light orange eyes with red cat like pupils, spiky red hair, an orange hooded top and black trousers. However, what was weird about the teen was the fact he had orange fox ears with white tips at the ends, and a long bushy orange fox tail, with a black tip, and he wasn't wearing shoes.

"Hi, little hedgehog. Do you like my new form?" Reimaru asked.

"I could care less. I just want to know what you want me to do!" Shadow growled. Reimaru smirked.

"I don't need you to do anything for me." he said.

"Then why did you call me here?"

"Isn't it obvious? I need an eighth tail!"

"What?"

"Yes…you should know about the myths of foxes…to gain nine tails, we need to kill a powerful being and steal their soul…"

Shadow finally caught on.

"There is NO way I'm becoming your eighth tail!" he shouted. Reimaru grinned evilly, showing sharp fangs.

"You don't have a choice…"

He suddenly lunged at Shadow, who jumped out of the way, and launched a Chaos Spear. It hit Reimaru, and he whimpered in pain.

"That's it! I'm going to show you what power I'm capable of!" Reimaru snarled. He did a back flip, and changed into a huge orange feral fox with black stripes, sharp claws and seven tails with red tips.

"BEHOLD! MY TRUE FORM!" Reimaru roared. He whipped his tails into the air, and then launched them at Shadow, who dodged out of the way.

"You're going to have to do better than that!" he shouted. Reimaru snapped at the air, and turned back to his human form. Six foxes on fire appeared, snarling and howling at Shadow.

"Get him, and bring him to me!" Reimaru ordered the foxes. They sprang at Shadow, who slid out of the way.

*End of flashback*

Reimaru nodded.

"After that, you defeated me, and left me to be captured by those blasted humans…however, it seemed after that, the fates took a interesting turn, and you were killed while trying to escape the people chasing you." he said.

"Yeah…and you sent Sanbi to me in the spirit world, to make a deal with you…you'd give me my memory back if I broke your seals by the next eclipse." Shadow muttered.

"You're probably wondering why I brought Maria back, aren't you?"

Shadow nodded, and Reimaru laughed.

"Quite simple, really…you were the only one who could break my seals, so I couldn't have you dying. That ghost wolf was one of my tails, even though you thought it was Maria's spirit. When I saw the future of you being shot, I couldn't intervene, so I went to Maria. Now, I've decided to kill two birds with one stone, and gain full power by killing you both. So, I get to have bakeneko powers…" Reimaru bared his fangs.

"But…why do you want to kill us all?" Hikari asked.

"That's none of your business. Now, I think it's time the battle started…" Reimaru sprung at Shadow, who dodged out of the way and used a Chaos spear. It hit the fox, who just grinned.

"You honestly don't think that can hurt me now?" he lashed out with his tails, and managed to send Shadow flying into a wall.

"Why don't you give up? Give up and die…" Reimaru snarled, leaping at Shadow with his fangs bared. Shadow just ran underneath him, and shot a Chaos spear at Reimaru's real tail, which was a fox tail with a black tip. Reimaru whimpered, and poofed into six foxes on fire. His human form jumped up from the floor.

"You…it looks like you've remembered how to defeat me…" he muttered. The foxes ran back to him, and he turned back into a seven-tailed fox. Shadow backed away as Reimaru turned around. The fox stopped, and sniffed the air.

"It looks like you brought me a gift!" he snapped, suddenly running towards Brook, who was holding a bag. He grabbed the bag from her, and tore it open, making the Chaos emeralds fall out. He quickly got the silver Chaos emerald, and started glowing orange. The Chaos emeralds turned black, and Shadow growled.

"You really shouldn't have left them lying around…" Reimaru said. He was now glowing black, and there were sharp steel spikes on the ends of his tails.

"Oh, *BEEP*…" Shadow swore as the fox zoomed towards him. Reimaru jumped on him, and held him with a paw.

"This won't hurt. I'll just gain my eighth tail!" he hissed. Shadow began glowing red, and then stopped moving. An eighth tail appeared on Reimaru, and he roared.

"Now…let's make these nine tails…" he growled, looking at Maria.

"OK, I really don't want to fight you!" she shouted, as Reimaru ran towards her.

"Too bad, because I really want your soul!" Reimaru snarled.

"AWESOME BAKENEKO POWERS GO!" Maria pointed at Reimaru, who stopped as loads of fireballs appeared out of nowhere.

"Hah! My very element is fire! I'm not scared!" he made the fireballs vanish.

"I think it's time for Plan B." Maria muttered.

"What's Plan B?" Hikari asked.

"We get Shadow, and run for our lives."

"I hate-actually, I like to say this, but Shadow's not moving, and Reimaru's got an extra tail." Samuel pointed out the obvious.

"You mean…he just killed Shadow?"

"Of course I killed him! You wouldn't be alive if I took your soul away, which I'm going to do now!" Reimaru said.

"I'll put Plan C into action!" Hikari cried.

"What's plan C?" Samuel asked. Hikari took out her frying pan.

"LET'S DO THIS! LEEROY! JENKINS!" Hikari dashed towards Reimaru, who stared as she waved her frying pan.

"FOR POKEMON! AND FOR BAKENEKO!" Hikari started hitting Reimaru's paw with her pan.

"You show a lot of spirit. I'll kill you quickly." Reimaru said. Hikari screamed as she was grabbed in the fox's paw, then something unexpected happened. Reimaru's eighth tail swung in front of him, and started slapping him across the face. The fox let go of Hikari, and stared angrily at it.

"YOU DARE?" he roared. The tail vanished, and turned into a red flame, which hopped across the room, and hit Shadow. The hedgehog stood up.

"I am never being a tail again…" he muttered.

"How did you-" Reimaru stopped as he saw Maria pick up the Chaos emeralds, and throw them across at Shadow.

"Like that'll-" Reimaru looked back as Shadow started glowing, and became a glowing yellow hedgehog with red stripes.

"YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME!" the fox shouted, running at Shadow. The hedgehog clicked his bands off.

"CHAOS SPEAR!" he yelled, summoning a gigantic, overpowered bolt of green Chaos energy. Reimaru, whimpered, possibly for the first and last time in his life as Shadow shot the bolt at him.

Meanwhile, Lucas was debating with the GUN soldiers who hadn't run away, whether they should go into the building or not. They stopped talking as a green spear came shooting out the side of the building, leaving a large gaping hole. They slowly stared through the hole, and saw Shadow and the other people. Samuel turned to Shadow in rage.

"WHO'S GOING TO FIX THAT? NO ONE WILL BELIEVE ME IF I SAY A HEDGEHOG DID THAT!" he yelled in Shadow's face.

"At least you weren't eaten." Shadow mumbled.

"Where is Reimaru anyway?" Hikari asked.

"He's dead…" Shadow pointed at some ash where the fox was standing.

"OK, that's deep….remind me to never get on your bad side."

Three weeks later after this incident, things became normal…well, as normal as they could get, with speedy hedgehogs and frying pans of disaster. The Commander got the wall fixed by the Chaotix, but still hated Shadow, and tried to be a dad to Hikari.

Shadow went back to his tree, and started wondering about life, death and the perfect recipe for fudge. Maria somehow hacked into Eggman's bank account (but claimed she did not) and brought a house for herself and Shadow, and became an epic Pokémon Trainer. When Sonic asked if she and Shadow were going out, she blushed, and proceeded to summon a Delcatty to knock some sense into him. On her DS, of course.

Hikari started taking karate lessons with Akemi, Brook went back to the forest with Strike, and Tachi vanished and was later seen stealing jewels with Rouge on a security tape. Paul, Lucas and the soldiers all took holidays.

As for Sonic, he was chased by a squealing Amy, who had moved to the Mystic Ruins, and Tails messed around with gadgets.

It was never known what happened to the DNA samples of Shadow and Tachi, but that's another story.

_A happy ending…_

_*_Credits song: Sakura Drops by Utada Hikaru*

_Yes, please look up the song on Youtube. I'd like to thank the following people for helping me with this story:_

_Lucy Labrador-Thanks a million! To be honest, if you hadn't read the chapters before I posted them on Fanfiction, I would have probably taken another month to post the story!_

_Rat-Yes, I have a muse. I suppose every one has one…you know, that little voice in your head that can't stop talking? Thanks to the Rat for giving me a much needed nip on the finger when I was wussing out over posting this story, and getting me through my English exams._

_Angel-You know who you are. Thanks for commenting on the comics, and listening to my needless prattle at school. And PLEASE make sure you have your name on your memory stick. A shout out to the Book Club!_

_The Fabulous Baking Boys-Yes, I know that they're a company, and will probably never read this…but thanks for making the delicious cupcakes!_

_Tachi-For being the other random voice in my head, and having an urge to seek out shiny stuff._

_Amaterasu (from Okami game)-Your game rocks. Shine on, furball!_

_Ninetails (from Okami)-You were one of the best bosses I have ever fought in a video game. Thank you for being so epic, and I love your mask!_

_N (from Pokemon Black and White)-I like your hair. _

_Now for the Sonic characters!_

_Shadow-You're freaking cute. Thank you for being epic in your game. Even though it wasn't that good. _

_Maria- You're a cool person. You could really teach Chu (Canine Warrior from Okami) a thing or two about loyalty._

_Sonic-…..¬_¬_

_And thank you to the reviewers, Darkrose826, Epsilon Team Captain Hande, XxJinxannaRosexX, Mickey Chrystal-Kai, and Yamato Kazuki! _

_Well, that's it. Done. Finito. If anyone wants to ask me about the sequel (which I have no idea when it's going to be coming out) feel free to message me! I'm also on Chatango (swiftshadow777) Until next time!_

_Swiftshadow123_


End file.
